Page 11 - On Wayne News Today

>> how did wayne get to the office? >> he drove. i think he had his dads car, if im not mistaken. >> waynes father, homer williams, testified he had the station wagon until almost midnight that night. but chet dettlinger, an investigator for the defense, said wayne told him long ago this was a lie. >> he told me he had the car if daddy didnt have the car. but wayne said, i had the vehicle and i didnt want to corrupt the -- my dads testimony in the eyes of the jury, so i lied about it and said i ...

Defense attorney mary welcome did not expect the guilty verdict. >> i was crestfallen. >> so why do you think the jury convicted him? >> because he might have been guilty. because he might have been. >> during the trial, medical examiner robert stivers told the jury there had been very few strangulations of black males in the years before these murders began, and none at all with bodies left in rivers or by the roadside since that night wayne williams was stopped leaving this bridge. >> they wer...

Opening yourself up for all kinds of things. >> we asked wayne what he meant. when you say thats not giving anybody a license to kill but youre opening yourself up for all kinds of things -- >> my point is very simple. all right. if youre out roaming the streets like -- not all of these but some of these victims were -- you put yourself in a position for bad things to happen. >> for days, the district attorney was reluctant to take wayne williams to court based on fibers alone. while he hesitate...

>> camille bell, yusefs mother, believed wayne to be innocent. she feels that last day on the witness stand convicted him. >> and then when he flared off, then they were ready to say, well, okay, so he does have fire. >> when you got angry with the prosecutor, you said, youre a drop shot. >> i called him a drop shot. >> whats a drop shot? what does that mean? >> quite simply in our vernacular, a drop shot is a guy who is not worth much of anything. just drop him and shoot him and get him out of ...

>> the prosecution was allowed to bring in ten other deaths -- among them patrick baltazar, eric middlebrooks, jo-jo bell, to try to show a pattern. >> this is a chart showing fibers that were recovered from the body of patrick baltazar. >> fibers consistent with that blanket, with wayne williams bedspread, the green carpet, hair from waynes dog, plus a leather jacket. >> the jacket as i recall was hanging in his closet. >> and dedman told the jury two human hairs were found inside patrick balta...

A case built on fibers -- no fingerprints, no murder weapon, no apparent motive. now, remember, youre the jury guilty, innocent or not proven. this time the verdicts yours. mary welcome was wayne williams defense attorney. >> good morning. good morning. how are you? >> this was her first murder trial. what was he like when you met him? >> a most unlikely killer. >> yeah? why? >> because he just didnt appear to be the kind of person that could strangle anyone or have the strength to. >> to her, w...

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>> on jimmy payne, the other victim, dedman found yellow rayon fibers stuck to his cotton shorts, fibers consistent with the blanket under waynes bed. >> i personally took the cutting from the yellow blanket that was under the bed. >> this evidence slide contains the yellow blanket fibers that dedman clipped that night, magnified by our own video camera. but when larry peterson had returned that june for a second search a couple weeks later -- >> there was no yellow blanket to be found that i co...

Testimony would last almost two months. it would be a trial like no other before. a case built on fibers -- no fingerprints, no murder weapon, no apparent motive. now, remember, youre the jury guilty, innocent or not proven. this time the verdicts yours. mary welcome was wayne williams defense attorney. >> good morning. good morning. how are you? >> this was her first murder trial. what was he like when you met him? >> a most unlikely killer. >> yeah? why? >> because he just didnt appear to be t...

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