Defense witnesses describe Williams as gentle, non-violent

 By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

One after another Monday, witnesses for the defense variously described Antoine Williams as gentle, kind, soft-spoken, peaceful, non-aggressive and non-violent.

The mother of one of his children testified in Floyd County District Court that her nickname for him was “Teddy Bear.”

Williams, 36, most recently of Charles City, is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Nathaniel Fleming, 36, of Mason City. The shooting took place on the evening of June 30 at the Clarkview Apartments (now called Casa Apartments) in Charles City.

Several defense witnesses also testified about what they had observed about Fleming, saying he was intoxicated, cocky, aggressive and threatening the day of the shooting.

No witnesses said they saw Fleming with a gun that day, but a couple said they heard him threaten that he was going to get a gun or guns.

Defense attorney Steven Kloberdanz said in his opening argument last week that Williams thought he was in a situation of “shoot or be shot.”

A new Iowa law that might have made a self-defense argument easier to win was taken off the table last week by the judge in the case.

District Court Judge Rustin Davenport ruled Friday that the state’s new “stand your ground” law could not be used for the trial because the shooting happened on June 30 and the law didn’t take effect until the next day, July 1, even though Williams wasn’t charged until after the law was in effect.

The proceedings were interrupted Monday morning when Williams’ mother, who was observing the trial, had an apparent medical problem and the defense attorneys asked for a recess.

After the jury left, Dorothy Williams, of Chicago, was helped out of the courtroom and an ambulance was called. She was taken to Floyd County Medical Center then transferred to Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa in Mason City, where she was listed in fair condition Monday afternoon.

Antoine Williams was visibly shaken in the courtroom later in the morning, at one point dabbing his eyes with a tissue and holding the table to steady himself when everyone was told to rise while the jury re-entered.

Williams had been scheduled to testify on his own behalf Monday afternoon, but his defense attorneys asked the judge for a delay until Tuesday because Williams was upset over his mother and it might affect his ability to testify.

Davenport adjourned for the day about 1:30 p.m. Monday, but told Williams the trial would need to continue Tuesday morning, regardless of his mother’s condition.

Testifying for the defense Monday were:

• William’s sister, Wanda Williams, of Mississippi. She said she talked to her brother almost daily, and “he would never do anything like this.”

She answered “no” to defense questions if Antoine Williams was aggressive, violent or ever got into fights. She answered “yes” each time when asked if he was kind, gentle,  soft-spoken and generous.

On cross-examination, Floyd County Attorney Rachel Ginbey asked Wanda Williams if she was living in Mississippi on June 30. When Williams said she was, Ginbey asked, “So you don’t have any idea of what did or didn’t happen” in Charles City that night?

“No, ma’am,” Williams said.

Ginbey asked if Antoine Williams had called her the night of the shooting and told her he had shot somebody.

“When I asked him about it he told me he didn’t do it,” Williams said.

• Josha Baker, of Charles City. Baker said he is a friend of Williams’, and he and a group of people were “just hanging out” at Clarkview Apartments on June 30. He said Fleming was taunting the group, “threatening us, like what he was going to do to us.”

Responding to questions by Kloberdanz, Baker said Fleming was angry with people, being disagreeable.

“Nathan, he kept threatening us, like, what he was going to do, because he was drunk, he was intoxicated, … like he was going to get guns and come back at us,” Baker said, who added he felt threatened and left the area.

Baker said Williams was present when the threat to get guns was made.

Baker said he had heard that Fleming had been in a fight earlier in the month, and on June 30 still had some injuries from that fight, including “a couple of black eyes.”

On cross-examination, Baker said he was drinking that night, but was not intoxicated by the end of the evening.

He said that Fleming was in his vehicle when he made the threats. “He was up in the car, and he said, ‘I’ll be right back, I’ll go get my guns and be right back.”

• Tiffany Jones, of Charles City. Jones said she is the mother of one of Williams’ children and she has known Williams about four or five years.

Kloberdanz asked her to describe Williams’s character, and she said, “He’s a big, nice, gentle guy. I call him Teddy Bear.” She said he is very quiet, good to their son and she never knew him to have a gun.

Under cross-examination, Ginbey said that Williams had told police he called Jones the night of the shooting and told her “he didn’t mean to do what he did, but s— happens.”

“He might have said that,” Jones agreed.

• Chekeytra Parks, of Colorado. Parks said she was with Williams for 11 years and has three children with him.  Parks said Williams is in regular contact with his children.

She said it was “totally” out of character for Williams to have shot someone. “It was a shock,” she said.

Parks said, “We don’t condone guns. We don’t allow our kids to play with guns. We never buy them BB guns, pellet guns, none of that. We talk about it, let them them know it’s not safe. You’re not supposed to play with it — it’s not a toy. We don’t have them in the house, never did.”

Parks said Williams had been shot before when he was robbed, and they moved from Mississippi to get away from gun violence in Mississippi.

Parks said she encouraged Williams to turn himself in after the shooting, “because that’s the right thing to do, and if it was a mistake it was a mistake.”

“If he shot someone he had to be really scared that he was going to be shot first,” she said.

• Corey Webb, of Charles City. Webb said he had known Williams about two years, they had worked together and Williams had let him live at Williams apartment for about 2 months when Webb needed a place to stay. Nathaniel Fleming was also staying at the apartment.

Webb said he was aware or believed that Fleming had guns available to him. He also said Fleming sustained injuries in a fight that he had with Webb.

On cross-examination, Webb said he had been convicted of two felonies and he wasn’t present on the night of June 30. He said he had never seen Fleming with a gun, although after Webb beat up Fleming, Fleming said he was going to get a gun, “so I chased him, and I fought him again,” Webb said.

• Ashley Chapman, of Charles City. Chapman said she and Williams dated for a few months, but now are friends. She called Williams “nice, generous, quiet, a little shy, funny. He was my friend and I don’t have any mean friends.”

She said she knew Fleming, and agreed with Kloberdanz that he was wild, obnoxious, trying to be tough, drank a lot, aggressive and violent.

She said on June 30 Williams tried to get Fleming to calm down. She said she crossed the street to talk to a neighbor, and Fleming tried to hit her with his vehicle when she tried to cross back.

Chapman said she believed that Fleming had a gun, and that he tried to show her the gun, but she said she wasn’t interested in seeing it because “this is Iowa and everyone has a gun.”

On cross-examination, McAllister said she hadn’t told any of those things to an Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation agent who first interviewed her the morning after the incident.

Chapman said the first officer she talked to that day woke her up after she had been asleep less than an hour after getting off work. She five different officers questioned her or followed her that day and she told one of them about Fleming’s threatening actions.

“It’s on the camera, and I told plenty of officers that he tried to run me over,” she said.

McAllister asked Chapman about statements she made to another DCI agent that she and Williams had gotten into fights and some scars on her face were caused by Williams.

“You still believe he’s not a violent person?” McAllister asked.

“Well, I don’t know. If you ask the officer that came to get me for fighting on him, he was defending himself,” she said. “I own what I do. I don’t have to lie.”

On re-direct, Kloberdanz asked Chapman, “Is there anything you just heard that changes your opinion about Mr. Williams?”

“No,” she said.

“In fact, you trusted him to watch your kids, didn’t you?” he asked.

“Yes, yes,” she answered.

The trial will continue at 9 a.m. Tuesday when Williams is expected to testify. Attorneys said the case may go to the jury Tuesday or Wednesday.