Florida man charged in teen’s ‘unprovoked’ murder found competent for trial

The Florida homeless man accused of fatally stabbing a 14-year-old Palm Seaside Gardens boy has been discovered competent to face trial by two psychologists.

Semmie Williams, a 39-year-old vagrant with a legal document throughout a number of states and whose lawyer says he suffers from long-standing psychological sickness, is accused of stabbing Ryan Rogers in an unprovoked assault on the night of Nov. 15, whereas the teenager was out using his bicycle.

The psychologists’ studies weren’t instantly made public. The authors advised the Palm Seaside Put up they might not talk about their findings and not using a court docket order, and the fifteenth Circuit State Legal professional’s Workplace declined to remark, citing its coverage on pending litigation.

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Dr. Ian Lamoureux, a board-certified forensic psychiatrist primarily based in Arizona, defined that the willpower means the 2 evaluators discovered Williams to be each able to helping his protection and of understanding the “nature and goal” of the proceedings in opposition to him.

Meaning comprehending primary ideas, akin to that the prosecutor shouldn’t be making an attempt to assist him, that his protection lawyer is working to get him the absolute best end result, and that he shall be tried earlier than a jury of their friends, he advised Fox Information Digital.

“It means that he’s not so profoundly impaired by his sickness that he’s, for instance, listening to voices and can be speaking to unseen others throughout the court docket proceedings,” he mentioned.

Williams’ lawyer, Scott Pribble, argued in February filings that his shopper was removed from in a position to “meaningfully take part” or “help counsel.” He has been charged with first-degree homicide and will face the dying penalty.

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Even when Williams had been discovered incompetent, Lamoureux mentioned that after therapy in jail or a psychological well being facility, he may have probably been reevaluated and located match to face trial.

Pribble conceded as a lot in a February submitting: “[Williams’] competency to proceed has been the topic of in depth litigation in a earlier legal case, and he was in the end adjudicated competent to proceed in that case solely after a prolonged hospitalization.”

Even being deemed competent for trial, nonetheless, doesn’t stop his attorneys from utilizing an madness protection.

“The madness protection is actually going to boil right down to what exactly he was pondering on the time,” Lamoureux mentioned.

Ryan left his dwelling on his bicycle at round 6:39 on Nov. 15, in response to authorities. When he didn’t return by 10:30 p.m., his mother and father reported him lacking.

Court docket paperwork allege that Williams killed him round 7:31 p.m., once they crossed paths underneath an I-95 overpass in Palm Seaside Gardens. Minutes earlier, surveillance video exhibits a person believed to be Williams approaching the world on Central Boulevard, the place police recovered Ryan’s physique.

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Investigators mentioned they discovered Williams’ DNA on a pair of headphones left on the scene and Ryan’s blood on a bandana within the suspect’s possession on the time of his arrest, greater than two weeks later.

In an earlier interview with police, Williams denied any function within the crime. However he allegedly confessed to jail personnel. 

“Yea, I killed that motherf—–, and I’ll kill you too,” he allegedly advised a guard, in response to court docket filings.

After his arrest, Williams was accused of attacking jail guards, calling one a “White satan,” and, in a press release throughout the fingerprinting course of, indicating that the assault on Ryan could have had a racial motive.

“Whereas fingerprinting his left hand, I requested him if he understood the costs,” Officer Michael McCabe wrote in an incident report. “He said, ‘Yea, homicide, due to what they did to Black folks about giving them syphilis.’”

Williams allegedly tried to interrupt free from the officer’s grip however failed. Different guards helped place him in handcuffs.

He’s being held with out bail.

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Palm Seaside Gardens Police Chief Clinton Shannon initially described Ryan’s slaying as “a random act” with no discernable motive.

He already had a prolonged rap sheet in Florida in addition to information in California and Georgia, the place he most not too long ago was accused of battering a senior citizen.

A YouTube channel attributed to Williams confirmed tons of of quick cellphone movies wherein he seems to make delusional claims. One, on the night time of the homicide, was titled “First Blood 1982.” The next day, after Ryan’s brutal stabbing dying, he posted one other claiming, “my subsequent film is gonna be ‘Blade 3:16.’”

YouTube didn’t reply to Fox Information Digital’s questions concerning the channel however eliminated it in December.

Lamoureux mentioned the movies could also be proof that Williams does endure from psychological sickness and that he could also be “extremely paranoid,” however it’s not unusual for mentally unwell folks, together with these identified with schizophrenia, and nonetheless be discovered competent to face trial.

 “Somebody may very well be fairly, fairly dramatically impaired by psychological sickness across the time of the offense however then, as a consequence of both a mixture of being off of medicine or on drugs within the jail…they are often competent within the right here and the now,” he mentioned.

Through the proceedings nonetheless, Lamoureux mentioned, Williams’ attorneys may try to revive the competency situation.

“These instances usually aren’t very streamlined, particularly once they’re this excessive degree of fees the place clearly the prosecution’s going to need to be very assured of their verdict,” he mentioned. “Assuming he’s convicted, they do not need that verdict to probably be overturned by a retroactive competency situation.”

Fox Information’ Sarah Rumpf and The Related Press contributed to this report.