Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Murder trial begins

PRESCOTT  The murder trial against R.J. Williams was slated to begin Monday and local police are gearing up for jury selection. The jury pool and all visitors to the Nevada County Courthouse will be passing through metal detectors for the duration of the trial - a process that could mean pileups at the courthouse doors.

Officers from the Nevada County Sheriffs Office and Prescott Police Department were among those who gathered in Prescott Sunday afternoon for a meeting to plan the details, including the transportation of prisoners. Williams was to be picked up from Arkadelphia early Monday. His sister and co-defendant, Tekelia Williams, along with Kevin and Kendrick Barton who have both been sentenced to prison for their roles in the 2004 murder of James H. Booger Red Cummings, have each been subpoenaed.

R.J. Williams is the last of the four to face sentencing locally. Kevin Barton pleaded guilty to his part in the death and received life in prison. Tekelia Williams plead guilty for her role - driving the car that delivered the three to the Cummings home and then taking them back to Stephens - and was sentenced to forty years.

The most recent plea agreement occurred just last week when Kendrick Barton, as part of a deal with prosecutors, was sentenced as a juvenile. Details of the sentence was sealed as a juvenile record and theres no official indication of the terms of that agreement.

Following Kendrick Bartons sentencing, Prosecutor Chris Thomason refused to comment on any aspect of that sentence and would not offer information regarding what testimony - if any - Kendrick Barton might enter in the trial against R.J. Williams this week.

Williams had asked for his own case to be moved to juvenile court, citing the fact that he was only 16 years old at the time of the crime. That motion was denied locally and upheld by the Supreme Court, leaving Williams to face the adult judicial system.

There are a number of additional witnesses slated for testimony during the trial, including an Arkadelphia detective who reportedly took a statement from the four regarding the Nevada County shooting. Arkadelphia law enforcement became involved in the crime when the group allegedly shot and killed an elderly Arkadelphia woman shortly after the Cummings shooting.

According to court records, attorneys for Williams have argued that the information regarding the Arkadelphia murder should be excluded, but Circuit Judge Duncan Culpepper denied the motion. He cited the probative value of that information and said that excluding it could only serve to confuse the jury regarding the facts of the case.