Witness says he saw last shots fired in Charles City murder case

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com 

A key witness in the first-degree murder trial of Antoine Williams on Thursday said he saw Williams apparently shoot the victim, pull him out of an SUV then drive away in the vehicle.

Williams, 36, of Charles City, is accused of killing Nathaniel Fleming, 36, of Mason City, on the evening of June 30 in the parking lot of what was known as Clarkview Apartments (now called Casa Apartments) in Charles City.

Several witnesses testified on the second day of the trial Thursday in Floyd County District Court, about various parts of the incident they saw as the prosecution continued building its case against Williams.

Shaun Biehl, 37, said that on the evening of June 30 he was at 2106 Clarkview Drive, in an apartment in the Clarkview Apartments, visiting his daughter and his daughter’s mother, Joycelyn Simmons.

He said he had put his daughter to bed and was watching recorded episodes of “The Walking Dead” with Simmons, who he said he was friendly with but was no longer dating.

Simmons went into her bedroom after a while, Biehl said, and he continued watching TV alone until he heard gunshots coming from outside the building toward the parking lot.

“It was two pops,” Biehl said.

Iowa Assistant Attorney General Coleman McAllister, who is assisting Floyd County in prosecuting the case, and who was questioning Biehl, asked Biehl how he knew the sound was gunshots.

“I’m from Chicago and I’m used to the difference in gunshots … and stuff,” Biehl said. “Been around friends that we were standing on our front porch and people drive by and shoot at you.”

He said his father is a member of the National Rifle Association, his sister was in the Army and he has been around guns “all my life.”

Biehl said after he heard the shots he ran to the window, pushed the blinds aside and saw Williams standing near a red SUV with his arm pointing into the truck, then saw and heard him shoot a couple more times.

He said he recognized Williams because Williams also lived at Clearview Apartments and they had had conversations before. Biehl said they also both worked for a company that did cleaning for Simply Essentials in Charles City, although they usually worked different shifts.

“Mr. Williams was standing up with his arm extended into the truck driver side door,” Biehl said. He said he couldn’t see if Williams had anything in his hands and couldn’t see who was in the truck, but he recognized the SUV as the vehicle that Fleming drove.

Biehl said he heard a couple more pops and saw muzzle flashes through the SUV’s windows while Williams’ arm was extended into the vehicle.

“I seen Mr. Williams pull … Nate’s body out of the truck and throw him on the ground, get in the truck and drive off,” Biehl said. “He fell right on his back.”

Biehl said he called 911 and went out into the parking lot. It was Biehl’s voice primarily that is heard on a 911 call that was played in court Wednesday.

Biehl said he recognized the person who had been shot as Fleming.

“He was gasping for air and his hands were up, reaching out,” Biehl said.

Biehl said he then saw Williams drive back toward the parking lot and he yelled for everyone to run.

After police arrived, Biehl went back into the parking lot and began telling an officer (Officer Leonard Luft, who was first to arrive) what he had seen. He was later taken to the police station and questioned again, he said.

While he was talking to the police some people in the crowd called out, yelling “snitch” at him, he said.

In pretrial motions, the prosecution had asked District Court Judge Rustin Davenport to order the press to not photograph or videotape Biehl’s face during testimony, because he feared for his life.

During cross-examination, defense attorney Steven Kloberdanz asked Biehl if his daughter’s mother, Simmons, was in a relationship with Fleming.

Biehl said he didn’t know. “I told her it was none of my business,” he said.

Kloberdanz started to ask Biehl about the number of felonies he had committed and Biehl answered two, but McAllister objected that the information was not relevant. The judge sustained the objection and instructed the jury to disregard the question and the answer.

Joycelyn Simmons, 34, testified that she knew Fleming and had talked with him earlier the day of the shooting.

“He was a guy who was talking to me, trying to get to know me much better than he already did,” she said.

She said Fleming was interested in dating her and she was interested in dating him, but it never got further than that.

On the night of the shooting, she said, she was in her bedroom when she heard something she thought was fireworks. She headed toward the living room and Biehl told her, “Someone just got shot, and I think it was Nate.”

Simmons said she ran into the living room, looked out the window and “saw Mr. Williams standing over Nate’s body.”

“He was standing over him in between the middle of his upper body and he has a gun pointing down at him,” she said. Simmons said she knew Williams prior to the shooting and recognized him.

She said she then saw Williams “jump in the truck and pull off.”

Simmons said she went to Fleming in the parking lot and started calling his name. She said he tried to raise his hand toward her, but then his hand fell and she thought he had died.

During cross-examination, Nellie O’Mara, Williams’ other attorney, questioned Simmons about whether Fleming was intoxicated on the day of the event.

Kloberdanz said in the defense opening statement Wednesday that Fleming was intoxicated the night of the incident, was angry at Williams and that Williams shot Fleming in self-defense because he thought Fleming was reaching for a gun to shoot him.

Simmons said she saw Fleming drinking earlier in the day, and she could smell a little alcohol on him, but he did not drink in front of her and he did not act intoxicated.

In other testimony Wednesday:

• Scott Reger, a special agent with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, described the events that led to the discovery of the red Chevrolet Equinox SUV found abandoned in Waterloo, about how a video surveillance recording from a Waterloo Walmart showed a car belonging to friends of Williams throw a set of keys into the parking lot, how Reger recovered those keys from the Walmart lost and found, and how surveillance video from the I80 Truck Stop west of Davenport showed the same car along with images of Williams at the truck stop. Williams later turned himself into police in Chicago and was taken into custody.

• Dr. Dennis Klein, the state medical examiner, testified that his examination of Fleming’s body showed that he had been struck by between four and six bullets, but “most likely five.” He said four bullets had been recovered from the body. Klein went through autopsy photos with the jury, pointing out the various entry and exit wounds created by bullets, and said at least one of the bullets was shot from “intermediate” range, 4 to 18 inches from the body. He said the cause of death was damage to internal organs and uncontrolled bleeding. He also said Fleming’s blood alcohol level was measured at 0.242 percent, which under cross-examination he agreed was “high.”

• Chris Geweke-Vierkant testified he passed Williams in the parking lot shortly before the shooting, then heard shots and saw flashes but originally thought it was fireworks because the date was so close to the Fourth of July.

• Tracy Hagen of Nashua, who was living in the apartment complex at the time of the shooting, described how she and her family were returning to their apartment after fishing. They were taking their fishing gear and pizza they had picked up on the way home into their apartment when she heard a noise that she also thought was fireworks. She went back to their truck to get her purse and saw a body lying on the ground near a dumpster. She said she ran to check that her children were safe, told her husband to call 911 then headed back toward the parking lot because she knew CPR. At that point she heard someone yell that the shooter was coming back so she ran back to her apartment, she said.

McAllister said the prosecution is likely to conclude its case about noon Friday, at which point the defense will begin presenting its case.

McAllister said the trial is likely to continue until midweek next week.