Criminal
Jun. 26, 2002
Often Delayed Murder Case Goes to Trial
RIVERSIDE - Accused murderer Robert Lee Williams has managed to delay his trial for seven years, burning through four lawyers and filing motion after motion in what authorities say has been a bid for time to arrange the death of his one surviving victim.
But it looks like People v. Williams finally is set for Monday when jury selection is set, marking the beginning of the end of Riverside's longest-pending criminal case.
Prosecutors expect to have their chief witness, Conya Lofton, there to testify.
"She recently heard that Williams intends to finish the job before his trial," Deputy District Attorney John Ruiz said, describing the defendant's allegedly continuing threats against Lofton.
According to the prosecutor, Williams ordered a hit on the 28-year-old witness by delivering messages through other inmates to associates outside jail. Defense attorney Bruce Cormicle did not respond to requests for comment on the matter.
Williams is accused of raping Lofton and slitting her throat along with the throats of her boyfriend and boyfriend's father on July 15, 1995. The defendant allegedly attacked the victims in a fight over money that Lofton's boyfriend stole in a credit union heist.
Lofton's boyfriend, Gary Williams, and his father, Roscoe Williams, died. Despite her severe wound, Lofton managed to regain consciousness, crawl through a window and go to a neighbor, who called the police.
Lofton has testified in the case against Williams' co-defendant and cousin, Ronald Walker. Walker was convicted of the two murders and attempted murder in a separate trial in January 2001. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Last month, the judge presiding over Robert Williams' case faced a quandary when Williams' fifth attorney - who has been on the case for less than a year - asked for a continuance of several months to analyze potential defenses.
Ruiz, the prosecutor, objected, arguing that the much-delayed trial should start in June, as previously planned, because Lofton's safety is at an increasing risk.
Lofton, who is in the witness protection program, told Judge Dennis McConaghy that repeated death threats have forced her to move several times to protect herself and her children.
McConaghy bumped jury selection to Monday, giving Cormicle a month less than he had requested to prepare his case.
Jeremy M. Miller, a criminal law professor at Chapman University School of Law, said McConaghy had a tough call to make - balancing the defendant's right to due process with the prosecution's concern for witness safety.
"This is not a pretty situation," Miller said. "The fact that there have been multiple attorneys involved in the case poses a real problem. The judge probably could have gotten away with moving [the trial] ahead more quickly."
However, "with all constitutional clauses, there's always a balancing act," Miller added. "There's a possibility that each side could be affected adversely."
Under the circumstances, Miller said, McConaghy probably made the correct decision.
"He didn't want to treat either side unfairly," Miller said. "It sounds like the judge knew what he was doing."
Since his arrest, Williams filed nearly a dozen Marsden motions against his first four attorneys alleging the lawyers weren't representing him competently. His lawyers - either deputy public defenders or conflicts panel attorneys - left the case voluntarily or when judges granted the defendant's motions.
"It got so bad that every time we were in court, [Williams] would make a motion to relieve his attorney," Ruiz said. "Each time a new attorney was appointed, that person would need at least another year to prepare a case.
"As the years went by, it got really frustrating that we couldn't get this case to trial."
At one point, the court let Williams represent himself but later stripped him of that right after finding he abused the privilege, according to court records.
Cormicle has represented Williams for nine months. Williams tried to boot him off the case, as well, by filing a Marsden motion against him in March. McConaghy denied the motion.
Ruiz said that, after Lofton testifies against Williams, his office will discuss with her the possibility of getting future witness protection from law enforcement.
Even if Williams backs off his threats against Lofton, "the third person who participated in the crime - who remains unidentified - is still out there," Ruiz said.
"We've all heard so often the expression [referring to] a 'miscarriage of justice,'" Ruiz added. "I feel like this situation, involving Conya, is like an abortion of justice. I feel like I'm the guy who is trying to keep the fetus alive."
Jason Armstrong & Sean Windle
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