Williams death penalty trial begins
http://www.kitv.com/news/hawaii/williams-death-penalty-trial-begins/24931090
Ex-soldier, 34, on trial for killing his five-year-old daughter, 'kicked her
so hard he left a boot imprint on her chest'
- Naeem
Williams 'abused his daughter Talia for 7 months while she lived with him
and his wife in Hawaii, eventually killing her'
- The little
girl 'was tied to a bed and whipped and was forced to eat her own feces as
punishment for urinating on herself'
- Williams
does not deny beating her on the day of her death but blames the previous
injuries on his wife, Delilah Williams
- Naeem Williams
faces the death penalty if convicted of the 2005 killing
Accused: Naeem
Williams allegedly whipped his daughter with a belt and made her eat her feces
A former
soldier accused of killing his five-year-old daughter kicked her so hard that
he left a boot imprint on her chest, prosecutors have said at the opening of
his murder trial.
Naeem Williams,
34, appeared in court in Honolulu, Hawaii, near to where he was based at
Wheeler Army Air Force Base, for the first day of the trial on Tuesday morning.
He is accused
of inflicting seven months of abuse on his daughter Talia - including making
her eat her own feces and tying her to a bed before beating her with a belt -
before killing her in 2005.
On Tuesday,
federal prosecutors said Talia died after the blow to the chest forced her to
smack her head on the floor of her father's home.
Federal
prosecutor Darren W.K. Ching told jurors that the kick to her chest was so hard
that it left an imprint and caused her left shoulder to separate, the Hawaii Star Advertiser
reported.
Defense lawyer
John Phillipsborn said Williams admits to beating his daughter on the day she
died, but argued that her previous injuries were suffered at the hands of her
stepmother Delilah Williams.
Delilah
Williams pleaded guilty in a deal with prosecutors to testify against her
former partner in exchange for a 20-year sentence. Ching said she will provide
a 'firsthand account of abuse'.
If he is found
guilty, Naeem Williams faces the death penalty even though Hawaii abolished
capital punishment in the 1950s.
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video
But because
Williams was in the Army at the time of the death and because it occurred in
military housing, it is being prosecuted by the federal government, so the
death penalty could be given.
On Tuesday,
Ching spent about an hour telling jurors disturbing details of the alleged
abuse, including a neighbor overhearing Williams commanding his daughter to eat
her feces.
Williams also
allegedly whipped Talia with a belt while she was duct-taped to a bedpost and
allegedly hit her so hard with a plastic ruler nicknamed 'Mr. Paddle' that it broke.
She died in
July 2005 after she was brought to a hospital unresponsive, vomiting and
covered in bruises, and a criminal complaint afterwards said Williams beat her
for urinating on herself.
Federal
investigators saod that military law enforcement agents found blood splatters
on the walls of the apartment from when the little girl was whipped by her
father's belt.
'Killers':
Williams, left, said he did beat his daughter but blamed the little girl's
previous injuries on his wife, Delilah Williams, right. She pleaded guilty in
exchange for 20 years and will testify in her husband's case
An autopsy
reported that she died from an inflicted head injury due to battered-child
syndrome.
Defense
attorney John Philipsborn showed jurors a grainy, black-and-white photograph
that was taken several months before Talia's death and soon after the birth of
her half-sister.
'This
photograph is a photograph of a tragedy in progress,' he said.
Other expected
witnesses in the trial will include Talia's former teacher at Wheeler
Elementary School, the family's former neighbors and the medical examiner.
Naeem Williams
also will take the stand, Philipsborn told the jury.
Philipsborn
said Williams was ill-equipped to care for a child, let alone a child with
special needs who had bowel- and bladder-control problems.
Scene: Cops
reported seeing blood on the walls at Williams' home at Wheeler Army Air Force
Base, pictured
Court: The case
is being held at the U.S. District Court in Honolulu and Williams faces the
death penalty
He added that
Naeem Williams was married to a controlling, angry and volatile woman.
'You will
understand from Naeem Williams he had both strengths and limitations,'
Philipsborn said.
Talia's
biological mother, Tarshia Williams, is also expected to testify. Ching said
Tarshia Williams and Talia's father weren't married but share the same last
name because they are distant relatives.
She filed a
civil lawsuit against the government over Talia's death but it has been put on
hold until after the criminal trial.
It claims that the
military failed to report that Talia's father and stepmother 'abused and
tortured' her even after childcare professionals reported alleged abuse.
Delilah
Williams also allegedly told co-workers it was 'okay to whip a child, just
don't leave any marks' and in June 2005, military police failed to tell social
workers that Talia was found 'naked and mute, standing near faeces on the
floor' with marks covering her body and scratches on her face.
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2 comments:
I would have asked for a trial outside HAWAII. You can count the BLACK MEN crucified here.
Interesting the father suggests they call 911. Talked out of it by the step mother, yet he allegedly beats the child again. Hmm, 9 years to get to this point in his trial.
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