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Thread: Donald Otis Williams - Florida Death Row

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    Donald Otis Williams - Florida Death Row






    The accused kidnapper and murderer of an 81-year-old Leesburg woman, who contends it was actually another carjacker who abducted them both and killed her, has been ruled competent to represent himself at his capital murder trial in April, according to Lake County courthouse records.

    The ruling for Donald Otis Williams, 52, who is accused in the 2010 death of Janet Patrick, comes after Circuit Court Judge Mark Nacke postponed the suspect's trial from January to April 15, after deciding there should be more updated mental evaluations.

    Williams' request to represent himself came after he told Nacke, who's presiding over the case, he was concerned about the assistance of the Public Defender's Office.

    "I'd rather walk to the gallows than have the public defender represent me," said Williams in an earlier court hearing.

    The trial had been scheduled first for October of last year, but pushed to January after the Public Defender's Office asked for more time to determine if "severe injuries" suffered by Williams led to neurological problems which could be used in his defense.

    In his ruling, the judge also upheld Williams' request to use insanity as a defense.

    Williams, who is also charged with robbery, is being held without bail in the Lake County jail.

    According to the Lake County Sheriff's Office, Patrick's decomposed body was discovered Oct. 26, 2010, in a wooded area of Polk County, several days after she vanished from a Publix parking lot in Leesburg on Oct. 18. Security cameras allegedly showed Williams leaving the grocery store with the victim and climbing into her white Chevrolet Impala.

    Williams told detectives he was helping Patrick buy groceries when a carjacker abducted them, put them in the trunk and drove them around. Williams also contended that the unidentified, dark-skinned carjacker drugged him, killed Patrick and forced him to dump her body in the woods near the Polk-Osceola county line.

    A cause of death was never determined. However, detectives have said Patrick's credit cards were found in Williams' wallet and he had borrowed a shovel from an acquaintance.

    Assistant State Attorney Bill Gross, who's prosecuting the case, is out of the country and couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday.

    Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

    Williams has a long criminal record, including an accusation of sexually assaulting a woman in 2000 at a Walgreens pharmacy store after he drove her to a church. A plea deal in that case resulted in a carjacking charge because of the victim's reluctance to testify, officials said.

    http://www.dailycommercial.com/News/...eb2013williams
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    Leesburg suspect will represent self in capital murder trial

    The capital murder trial of a Leesburg suspect who was ruled competent to represent himself in a case in which he is pleading insanity will start in the Lake County courthouse this week.

    Donald Otis Williams, 53, is accused in the 2010 death of Janet Patrick, also of Leesburg, who he allegedly abducted from a Leesburg grocery, killed her and hid her body in a wooded area in Polk County in 2010.

    Williams will face the death penalty if convicted.

    Jury selection begins Monday.

    According to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, Patrick’s decomposed body was discovered Oct. 26, 2010, in a wooded area of Polk County, several days after she vanished from a Publix parking lot in Leesburg. Security cameras allegedly showed Williams leaving the grocery store with the victim and climbing into her white Chevrolet Impala.

    Williams initially told detectives he was helping Patrick buy groceries when a carjacker abducted them, put them in the trunk and drove them around. Williams also contended that the unidentified, dark-skinned carjacker drugged him, killed Patrick and forced him to dump her body in the woods near the Polk-Osceola county line.

    A cause of death was never determined. However, detectives have said Patrick’s credit cards were found in Williams’ wallet and he had borrowed a shovel from an acquaintance.

    Williams later said he could have been hallucinating because he’d neglected to take his medicine at the time.

    The trial originally had been scheduled for October but has been pushed back at least twice — one time after the public defender’s office asked for more time to determine if “severe injuries” suffered by Williams could have led to neurological problems — an argument which could be used in his defense.

    Williams’ request to represent himself came after he told Nacke he was concerned about the quality of assistance from the public defender’s office.

    Judge Mark Nacke postponed trial again after deciding there should be more updated mental evaluations.

    Assistant State Attorney Bill Gross said in an earlier interview that one witness, Olive Suter, a long-time friend of the victim, has died. But Gross saiud they have her recorded testimony.

    Williams, who is also charged with robbery, is being held without bail in the Lake County jail.

    http://www.dailycommercial.com/news/...b79411788.html
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    Murder defendant claims insanity

    In pleading insanity in his capital murder trial, Donald Otis Williams contends he had some type of hallucination or seizure at a Leesburg grocery in October 2010, where he was helping Janet Patrick shop.

    And when he came to, Patrick was dead beside him in her white Chevy Impala, according to opening arguments Tuesday in the Lake County courthouse.

    It was not clear why Williams didn’t call police or an ambulance. But he told investigators he eventually drove the body to North Florida or South Georgia under the guidance of his dead mother’s spirit, according to prosecutors.

    The story is a far cry from Williams’ initial version about how Patrick was killed — that he was helping her shop at a the store when a black man abducted them both and forced the two into Patrick’s trunk.

    According to opening arguments, Williams told detectives he was trying to escape when the unknown suspect beat them both and killed Patrick, before Williams was able to flee in the same car.

    But Assistant State Attorney Bill Gross questioned whether Williams was truly insane at the time or just desperate to avoid a conviction.

    “Williams doesn’t have a seizure disorder, he has a deceit disorder and anti-personality discover,” said Gross in his opening arguments. “Williams did what any sane person would do under the circumstances — he lied.”

    Jury selection in the trial started Monday and opening arguments and the first day of testimony was Tuesday. If Williams is convicted, prosecutors will seek the death penalty.

    According to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and Tuesday’s testimony, Patrick’s decomposed and nude body was discovered Oct. 26, 2010, in a wooded area of Polk County under two tires. This was several days after she vanished from the Publix parking lot in Lakes at Leesburg.

    Security cameras allegedly showed Williams leaving the grocery store with the victim and climbing into her white Chevrolet Impala.

    Williams also told detectives he burned the body afterward, but wouldn’t say why, according to testimony by detective Steve Keller.

    Despite pleading insanity, Williams was ruled confident to represent himself in the trial, which has been postponed a number of times due to all of his psychological evaluations.

    Williams, who now has shoulder-length hair as opposed to the close cropped hair-cut he had during his 2010 arrest, postponed an opportunity to give his own opening statements on Tuesday. But according to prosecutors and witness testimony, Williams claimed Patrick had asked for his help.

    But a witness testified that when Patrick walked up to the grocery store with a cane, it was Williams who asked the victim if she needed help. Peggy Sneed, who happened to be using a nearby ATM at the time, said Williams jumped off a bench to offer his assistance. And he kept asking her after she refused.

    “He was adamant about helping her,” Sneed said.

    A taped testimony was taken of one witness, Olive Suter, because officials feared she might die before the trial started.

    A longtime friend of the victim, Suter had asked Patrick to pick up some groceries for her and reported the woman missing when she didn’t come back.

    Suter had an illness and died in December.

    During her taped testimony, she said Patrick was shy and wasn’t the type of woman to turn to a stranger for help.

    Upon receiving the missing person report, detectives talked with Publix employees and watched the surveillance video. They determined Patrick had conducted a Western Union transaction within the store a couple days before the abduction, which led to his identification.

    Deputies said they found Williams living in Patrick’s car and arrested him without incident.

    A cause of Patrick’s death was never determined.

    Gross said Tuesday that Patrick’s credit cards were found on Williams — cards he tried to give to an acquaintance. And he borrowed a shovel from that same person, and Gross belives Williams intended to dig a grave on that person’s property.

    Williams, who is also charged with robbery, is being held without bail in the Lake County jail.

    http://www.dailycommercial.com/news/...6bf1635c2.html
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    Donald Williams representing himself in trial for murder of 81-year-old Leesburg woman

    Facing the jury that will decide if he's a murderer, Donald Otis Williams made his claim that he is mentally ill and innocent.

    "There is no doubt in my mind that the way Miss Patrick died was absolutely horrible," Williams said, referring to the victim, 81-year-old Janet Patrick, during his opening statement to the jury.

    "Did I cause her death? I don't know. I honestly don't," said the 53-year-old defendant, dressed in a suit and sporting shoulder-length hair. " I did not murder Janet Louise Patrick. I did not kidnap her. I did not rob her."

    Williams fired his attorneys and is defending himself during his trial on charges of first-degree murder, robbery and kidnapping. After several days of the prosecution's case, Williams began presenting his case Friday.

    Patrick was kidnapped from a Publix parking lot in Leesburg in October 2010. Her decomposed body was found several days later in woods near the Osceola-Polk line. When he was first arrested, Williams said a gunman had kidnapped them both from the parking lot.

    In a prior felony case, Williams was sentenced to 10 years in prison for a sexually motivated carjacking in 2000, in which he forced his way into a 21-year-old woman's car and ordered her to take off her clothes.

    During his trial in Patrick's killing, he questioned witnesses but was tripped up by regular objections from Assistant State Attorney Bill Gross whenever the line of questioning could have had witnesses sharing second-hand knowledge, or "hearsay," which is barred from trial testimony. He tried such questions to bring in testimony about his diagnosis of bipolar disorder.

    Clarifying these rules about questioning and hearsay required several breaks, as Williams privately conferred with Circuit Judge Mark Nacke and Gross over the allowable way to ask a question.

    In his opening statement, he admitted his own lack of trial experience.

    "I don't have the slightest idea," he said. "I'm just doing what I think is the best for me."

    He then started outlining his mental-health history, starting with his initial head injury. He told jurors he started experiencing hallucinations and epileptic fits when he was in the Marine Corps. He outlined a long history of problems – head injuries, car accidents, a father with mental issues and lengthy bouts of sleep deprivation.

    Weeks before Patrick's murder, he was homeless and was living in a graveyard in Polk County.

    "What I'm letting you know doesn't negate the fact that a horrible event happened that you're here to try me on," he said to the jury.

    Yet, he denied responsibility.

    "I may have lashed at her to get her off me," he said. "That wasn't in a conscious state of mind.

    "She may have died for any number of reasons," he said. "I did not murder Miss Patrick. I did not hurt that lady."

    http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/...patrick-jurors
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    Seizure specialist disputes murder defendant seizure claims

    In who was supposed to be a key witness for the defense in that the murder defendant suffered from seizures, a neurologist testified Tuesday she couldn’t find any evidence Donald Otis Williams suffered from the disorder.

    Upon cross examination by the prosecution in the Lake County courthouse, Dr. Jean Cibula, of Gainesville, also testified that upon a physical examination she took of the defendant last year, she could find no injuries or trauma that would result in a seizure.

    “I couldn’t find objective evidence of a seizure disorder,” said Cibula, whose testimony was played via video in the Lake County courthouse Tuesday.

    Williams, 53, of Leesburg is accused of helping 81-year-old Janet Patrick shop for groceries at the Publix in Lakes at Leesburg in October of 2010, only to abduct and kill her and leave her nude body in a wooded area of Polk County.

    Her body was found days after she was reported missing and surveillance footage from Publix led to the identification of Williams — who initially blamed the killing of Patrick on a phantom man who abducted them both from the grocery store.

    In Williams' second version of what happened, he contends he had some type seizure at the end of helping her shop. And, when he later came to in Patrick’s Chevy Impala — the car is accused of abducting her in — the woman was sitting beside him, murder.

    Williams is pleading insanity.

    Cibula, who specializes in seizures, was hired by the Public Defender’s Office to examine Williams — who later fired his public defenders and decided to represent himself in the case.

    For almost two hours Tuesday, Williams asked Cibula a number of questions about his examination and if it led to her determining he suffered from seizures as well as if his actions surrounding the murder could have been caused by seizures.

    However, on many of his questions that he asked her on his having seizures, she disputed it or responded with “That’s what you told me.”

    Prosecutor Bill Gross, who said in his opening argument last week that Williams doesn’t have a seizure disorder, but a deceit disorder — opened Cibula up for more disputes of Williams’ claim of seizures during his cross examination.

    Many of Gross’s questions to her focused on how someone one typically acts during and directly after a seizure. This included if they could drive 65 miles to Polk County where Patrick’s body was discovered or South Georgia, where Williams claimed he also drove with the body.

    “Not without crashing into things,” Cibula responded.

    Cibula also noted during cross-examination that Williams failed to write a check mark in the “seizure” box on a medical form upon being booked into the Lake County jail on the murder charge.

    Williams implied afterwards that he may didn't fill out the form, but a jailer did.

    The prosecution said it will seek the death penalty if Williams is convicted.

    http://www.dailycommercial.com/news/...8879df01b.html
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    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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    Murder defendant wants help

    TAVARES — A Lake County murder defendant has given up trying to defend himself at trial and will have the Public Defender's Office take over his defense starting today. Donald Otis Williams, 53, above left, had been handling his own defense, above, for his first-degree murder trial, which started Aug. 12. But last week, he finally backed down from running his own defense, admitting that he needed help in handling the case. Williams, is accused of kidnapping 81-year-old Janet Patrick from a Leesburg Publix parking lot in October 2010 and killing her before dumping her body in woods near the Osceola-Polk line. The trial has been on hold since Wednesday, to give two assistant public defenders a few days to get caught up on his trial defense. The case is scheduled to resume today.

    http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/...,2480026.story
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    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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    Lake jury finds sex offender Donald Williams guilty of 2010 murder

    A Lake County jury today found violent sex offender Donald Otis Williams guilty of the first degree murder and kidnapping of an 81-year-old Leesburg woman.

    Williams, 53, was convicted in the 2010 murder, robbery and kidnapping of Janet Patrick, who was abducted from a supermarket parking lot in Leesburg. He could face the death penalty. Jurors will return on Tuesday for the penalty phase, during which the jury will recommend whether he should be sentenced to life or death.

    Patrick was last seen on Oct. 18, 2010, on a surveillance video in the checkout line of a Publix supermarket, where she was seen talking with Williams, who then walked her out with her groceries, according to a police report. Her body was found in a wooded area near Poinciana several days later.

    After his arrest, Williams had claimed a gunman had abducted both of them from a parking hot.

    Williams offered a defense of insanity and fired the Public Defender's Office from his trial. He handled his own trial solo a week and a half, before giving up and agreeing to have the Public Defender's Office back on the case.

    The trial resumed Monday after the attorneys had a few days to get caught up on the case.

    Williams has a prior history as a violent sex offender. He was convicted of abducting a 21-year-old woman in 2000, kidnapping her from a drugstore parking lot and then taking her to another parking lot where he tore off her clothes. A witness interrupted the attack, court records show.

    http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/...,5906069.story
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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    Witnesses testify in convicted killer's penalty phase of trial

    Convicted killer Donald Williams could learn this week if a jury will let him live the rest of his life in prison or die on death row.

    Williams was convicted of murder and kidnapping last Thursday in the death of 81-year-old Janet Patrick in 2010.

    The penalty phase in the 54-year-old's trial began Tuesday in Lake County, and the state called victim impact witnesses to the stand.

    The state is trying to get a death recommendation.

    Witness Darla Blackwell was called to the stand.

    She was a victim of a carjacking at the hands of Williams 13 years ago.

    The 34-year-old told jurors how she was abducted from a Tavares parking lot when she was 21 years old, sexually assaulted and had her life threatened.

    Blackwell is one of three victims being called to testify.

    It's an effort by the state to show the jurors that Williams is a dangerous criminal who deserves to die.

    "At one point, I said, 'Get it over with. I'm ready to die.' Then I said, 'I don't want to die. My little girl needs her mom,'" said Blackwell.

    Williams, who had been representing himself until last week, complained to the court he was unhappy with his defense team.

    The judge asked if he would like to replace the team or represent himself, and was reluctant, but opted to keep his attorneys.

    A total of 12 witnesses between the defense and state are expected to testify before the penalty phase finishes on Wednesday.

    http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/...-phase-/nZkZk/
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    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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    Jury recommends death sentence for Donald Williams for murder of elderly Leesburg woman

    A Lake County jury tonight recommended that convicted killer Donald Otis Williams be executed for the 2010 murder of an 81-year-old Leesburg woman who was kidnapped from a supermarket parking lot.

    The jury deliberated for two hours on what punishment the 53-year-old should receive and voted 9-3 in favor of the death penalty. The trial has lasted for nearly four weeks, with Williams handling his own defense without attorneys for the first week and a half of the trial. The Public Defender's Office took completed the case.

    Williams was found guilty last week of first-degree murder, robbery and kidnapping. Janet Patrick's body was found in the woods near the Osceola-Polk county line several days after she disappeared from a Leesburg Publix parking lot.

    The victim in a similar 2000 case for which Williams previously served prison time was one of the witnesses who testified this week as the jury weighed his potential punishment. Williams was convicted in the abduction and kidnapping of the woman, then 21, from a drugstore parking lot. That victim had her clothes torn and was raped before a witness interrupted the attack, according to an investigative report.

    In closing arguments, Assistant State Attorney Bill Gross pointed out to jurors that Williams had been released from prison for the 2000 case when Patrick was abducted.

    "The defendant got a second chance," Gross said. "And this is what he did with that second chance."

    http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/...,5116438.story
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  10. #10
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    Man sentenced to death for murder of 81-year-old woman

    A man convicted of kidnapping and killing an 81-year-old Lake County woman has been sentenced to death.

    Donald Otis Williams, 53, represented himself at trial and was convicted in August in the 2010 kidnapping, robbery and murder of Janet Patrick from Leesburg.

    Williams abducted her from a supermarket parking lot after helping her with groceries.

    The jury recommended he be sentenced to death, and Judge Mark A. Nacke made the sentencing official on Friday.

    http://www.wesh.com/news/central-flo...woman/24741322

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