Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 4, 1994 TAG: 9409060042
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The Christiansburg man told a Montgomery County Circuit Court jury Friday that he didn't mean to start a chain of events that left him facing seven felony charges - including shooting a high school friend and carjacking a taxi, then leading police on a high-speed chase through Montgomery and Roanoke counties.
Williamson, 22, said he wasn't pulling the .357-caliber revolver on his friend Darryl Barker or taxi driver Dewey Moore, 73, when the gun went off as he sat in their cars. Instead, he was trying to remove it from the waistband of his pants.
"I was just showboating with the gun. I didn't mean to hurt nobody," Williamson testified.
Everything had been an accident, he told the jury, but as a convicted felon he knew he was in trouble, and he doubted the police would believe his explanation.
Williamson apparently convinced the jury. After almost three hours of deliberation in the county's first bifurcated felony trial under a new state law, the jury reduced some charges against Williamson and dismissed others. The jury found him guilty of three felonies - grand larceny, attempted malicious wounding of a police officer, and unlawful wounding - and a misdemeanor: brandishing a firearm.
After hearing sentencing instructions, learning the specifics of Williamson's previous convictions and deliberating for several minutes, the jury returned to sentence him to 20 years in prison on the three felonies and 12 months in jail for the misdemeanor. Retired Circuit Judge Kenneth Devore sentenced Williamson to an additional three years in prison on his guilty plea to possessing a firearm after being convicted of a felony.
The total 24 years to serve was one year less than the 25 years offered in a plea agreement Williamson had turned down.
The shootings and theft of the taxi happened Nov. 16, just hours after Williamson had been released from the Montgomery County Jail after a felony shoplifting charge was dismissed in General District Court. He had been paroled four months earlier from a three-year prison sentence for cocaine possession and distribution convictions.
Williamson said he first went to an uncle's home, where he drank three 40-ounce beers and much of a fifth of liquor. He told the jury he saw Barker and asked if he could have a ride later in the day. When his uncle fell asleep, he testified, he took his gun and went to Barker's house to get the ride he had been promised.
But Barker testified he was scared when Williamson came to his house, pulled out the gun and threatened him. He and his roommate agreed to give Williamson a ride if he would put the gun away, Barker testified. Williamson complied, but pulled the gun from his waistband shortly after getting into the back seat of the car.
Barker testified he was shot just seconds after they got in the car and started to drive off. The bullet traveled through the driver's seat and struck Barker in his side. Williamson testified the gun accidentally went off.
But Barker said Williamson didn't apologize or ask if he was OK. Instead, he testified, Williamson pointed the gun at him and said, "Let's go. let's go." Williamson walked away when Barker refused to get back in the car.
A short time later, Moore, the taxi driver, picked Williamson up at a friend's house and took him to the Walton community, where he had wanted Barker to take him. The two then began traveling to Blacksburg.
Moore testified he wasn't sure where he was taking Williamson. The young man began asking if Moore had change for a $100 bill and said he would pay in advance. About that time, the gun went off and Moore leaped from the taxi and waved down another car.
Williamson told his attorney, Randy Jones, and the jury that the gun went off as he again pulled it from his waistband. This time, he said, he was trying to remove money from his pocket. Instead, the gun discharged, and Williamson shot himself in the leg. Williamson denied he was trying to rob Moore or carjack him.
"I'm sure I scared him half to death when the gun went off, and I'm sorry," Williamson testified.
Williamson - shocked, bleeding, drunk and in pain - said he drove off in the cab just to collect his thoughts.
But Skip Schwab, assistant commonwealth's attorney, pointed out that Williamson didn't stop until he had driven at speeds of more than 100 mph on U.S. 460 into Roanoke County, then back into Montgomery County. The pursuit ended at the top of Christiansburg Mountain, when Christiansburg Officer T.L. Griffith got his cruiser in front of Williamson. The police car was struck twice before the taxi stopped. Williamson was taken into custody.
by CNB