A South Bay judge has delayed the expected release of a San Jose man from prison, 12 years after he and his brother brutally murdered their high school classmate.
Jae Williams was 15-years-old in 2009 when he and his 16-year-old brother Randy Thompson stabbed their Santa Teresa High School classmate Michael Russell to death in the victim's San Jose backyard. Williams previously said, "I guess I just finally wanted to kill somebody," as the reason why he committed the heinous crime, according to a court transcript obtained by the Los Angeles Times.
The slaying has been dubbed a "thrill kill," or the "Devil Boy's" murder.
Williams, now 27-years-old, and Thompson were each tried as adults, convicted of murder and sentenced to 26 years to life in prison in 2014.
However, a 2018 landmark state law, SB 1391, upheld by the California Supreme Court, ruled that individuals under the age of 16 could not be prosecuted as adults. While Thompson's status remains unchanged because he was 16 at the time of the crime, Williams would not have been tried as an adult under the new law.
As a result, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Maureen Folan ordered that Williams be released, although on Tuesday she stayed the order for a month to see if he can be placed him in a rehabilitation program to transition him back into the community, the San Jose Mercury News reported.
"Our community is not going to be safe," Cathy Russell, Michael's aunt, said according to KNTV. "A murderer is going to be getting back in there. They started killing animals first and moved to a human being."
The station reported that Williams will be placed at the Santa Clara County Main Jail in a maximum security cell until Dec. 28, when he will return to court to find out if he will be set free.
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