Calumet City Man was in Champaign | for attempted murder in February | condemns courts

Urbana – A man from Calumet City who represented himself was found guilty of shoting his cousin eight times.

A jury of the Champaign County reported for a little less than two hours before all M. Williams, 33 years old, was guilty on February 19, 2024 for attempted murder and a tightened battery. They also found that Williams used a firearm to cause great physical damage, which is increased for 25 years to every sentence he receives.

Despite some previous confusion about his ability to test witnesses that were brought up by the prosecutors, Williams presented his case on Wednesday.

It consisted of a handful of police cameras clips when the officials spoke to the victim at night and in the morning after the shootout.

In his final arguments, Williams emphasized how neither the victim nor a neighbor who saw the apparent shooter who left the scene, saw the face of the shooter.

The victim also hesitated to identify Williams and asked the police to find surveillance material so that he could see who had shot him through his windshield and the door of the driver when he pulled out of his driveway that night.

When he spoke to the police for the first time on the night of the shootout, he said that the only person he could “imagine” was Williams, but he didn't know why.

After a detective had told the victim that he had to convince 12 jurors of William's guilt, the victim said that it could have been a dispute over real estate with a common relative who lived with the victim to cope with the legal dispute with Williams.

In court on Tuesday, the victim also said that he suspected Williams because he was “unpredictable”.

“The only thing that is unpredictable is the extent (the victim) will fulfill the detective's explanation,” said Williams in his final arguments on Wednesday.

He described the shootout as a “devastating and unjust act” and said that the victim deserved justice, but that it was not justice to condemn it.

When he started his statements, Williams said that he had problems during the entire process because he represented himself.

The lawyer of the deputy state, Scott Larson, argued that this was only his choice, and any offers for sympathy are proof that he was a “liar manipulator”.

“This is not a man's outsider history against the government,” Larson told the jury. “This is a man who wants to move the pieces on the board. … you can't feel sorry for you because you have to make your decision about the evidence. “

An important evidence was a red Nissan Xterra in the early 2000s, which was parked from the place of the shootout and which the shooter used to fled.

While Williams had not registered such a vehicle in his name, the investigators said that several friends were informed of them that he drove a Xterra who was registered with one of them.

Larson said his phone was also eliminated at the time of the shootout. He argued that he showed that he was planning to kill the victim to get the relative with whom he had in a dispute. He said that if Williams had killed the relative instead, the legal case between them would have associated him too easily with the crime.

“This was not a rash,” said Larson.

Before he was arrested, Williams had a friend signed a notarized affidavit that was claimed that at the time of the shootout was at Williams, which Larson said that Larson was not something that an innocent person would do.

Larson's only “supporter” in William's plan, which prompted him to be caught, was the only “supporter” of the victim.

The victim had scars in front of the face and arm as well as nerve damage that limited the use of his left hand.