Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Lawyer Doubts Suspect’s Role in Ferguson Shootings
By MANNY FERNANDEZ
New York Times
MARCH 16, 2015

FERGUSON, Mo. — A lawyer for Jeffrey L. Williams, the 20-year-old suspect charged with shooting two officers during a demonstration outside the police station here, said Monday that he did not believe that his client had fired the shots.

The lawyer, Jerryl Christmas, who spoke to Mr. Williams on Monday in jail, said Mr. Williams was unclear on how the officers were shot early Thursday.

“I don’t think they have the right person in custody,” said Mr. Christmas, adding that he could not discuss the details of what his client had told him. “I don’t think he shot anybody.”

Prosecutors and police officials said on Sunday that Mr. Williams told investigators that he had been at the demonstration the night of the shooting and gotten into a dispute with some people there and shot at them, but missed and struck the police officers. In court documents and at a news conference, officials said Mr. Williams had acknowledged firing the shots from inside a 2003 Pontiac Grand Am.

Prosecutors expressed doubts about Mr. Williams’s account, and said it remained unclear if he had indeed been aiming for others or had targeted the officers.

“We’re not 100 percent sure that there was a dispute,” Robert P. McCulloch, the prosecuting attorney for St. Louis County, told reporters Sunday.

Mr. Williams made his first court appearance on Monday. Faced with first-degree assault and other charges, he made no statements during an appearance before a St. Louis County judge.

Mr. McCulloch said that Mr. Williams was a protester who had attended previous demonstrations, but some activists denied he was involved in their efforts.Investigators recovered a .40-caliber handgun they believed had been used in the shooting. Relatives and friends of Mr. Williams have defended him, describing him as an unemployed young man who lived with his pregnant girlfriend and had no intention of harming the police.

Relatives and friends of Mr. Williams said he had taken part in demonstrations but said he was not a protest leader or organizer.

“After Michael Brown, he was out there protesting,” an uncle, Mark Mooney, 35, said, referring to the black teenager who was shot and killed by a white Ferguson officer in August. “He had his shirt on. He had his signs up. After that, when things died down, he died down with it.”

“He wasn’t the type to go looking for trouble over there,” Mr. Mooney said.

Mr. Christmas said his client was not a protester and was “hanging out that night” at the demonstration. He said that Mr. Williams had bruises on his back, shoulders, neck and face, and that Mr. Williams told him that he got the bruises from the police during his arrest.

Sgt. Brian Schellman, a spokesman for the St. Louis County Police Department, which arrested Mr. Williams, called allegations of a beating “completely false.”

Reggie Dobson, Mr. Williams’ cousin, said that the shooting had nothing to do with Mr. Williams’ participation in protests over Mr. Brown’s killing and that he and other relatives and friends believed that Mr. Williams was not the only one who opened fire that night. “There’s some neighborhood beef,” Mr. Dobson said. “It was somebody chasing him. It had nothing to do with police.”

Officials said the investigation was continuing and more arrests may be likely.

Brent McDonald contributed reporting.

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