Bond reduction hearing set for Friday in Columbia murder case
13th Judicial Circuit
Jeffrey McWilliams appears via video from the Boone County Jail at his first court appearance Wednesday, May 12, 2021.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The attorney for a man accused of taking part in a robbery that killed someone in 2017 wants a judge to give him the chance to post bond.
Stephen Wyse, the attorney for 28-year-old Jeffrey McWilliams, asked Judge Jeff Harris to set a $50,000 cash or surety bond in the case. Such a bond would allow McWilliams to pay 10 percent of it to be released from jail, as well as face several conditions to remain out of custody. McWilliams is currently held in the Boone County Jail without bond. A hearing is set for Friday at 9 a.m.
A bond reduction hearing has been set for Friday, May 21 at 9 a.m.
McWilliams attorney Stephen Wyse filed the motion on Wednesday. The motion requests that the bond be set at $50,000. Â
McWilliams was charged second degree murder, first degree robbery and armed criminal action. Authorities say in December 2017, McWilliams and two other individuals unlawfully entered a home on Lasso Court in Boone County and demanded money and property. Roberts was found with a gunshot wound and significant injuries to his face.
According to previous KOMU 8 reporting, police said the homicide involved a home invasion and drug use. Police later found a black pullover jacket with the victim s blood near a U-Haul packed with marijuana and THC vapor pens. DNA taken from the jacket was sent to the Missouri State Highway Patrol DNA Laboratory for analyzation. It came back as a match for McWilliam s DNA.
Commentary: Need for jailhouse snitch reform
Stephen Wyse
One of the dirtiest secrets of the criminal justice system is that the government is permitted to compensate and reward a jailhouse witness, commonly known as a snitch, if they testify that a fellow detainee has confessed to the alleged crime.
There are almost no safeguards to prevent false testimony by these compensated witnesses. High-profile public cases have caused law enforcement to use improper means to obtain a conviction. According to the Innocence Project, police and/or prosecutorial misconduct have also been responsible for wrongful convictions of innocent citizens.
One-hundred thirty Americans have been wrongfully convicted by the false testimony of compensated jailhouse witnesses before they were later proven innocent. According to the Innocence Project, compensated witness testimony is a leading cause of wrongful convictions.
Murder suspect takes plea deal resulting in reduced charges.
COLUMBIA - The man accused of shooting and killing a teenager in September 2019 pleaded guilty Friday and was sentenced to seven years in prison.
Javion Lawhorn entered an Alford plea to second-degree assault and first-degree involuntary manslaughter during a pre-trial hearing Friday. He was set to stand trial next week.Â
Special public defender Stephen Wyse said he arranged the plea bargain with special prosecutor Morley Swingle early Friday morning.
The Alford plea, he said, means that Lawhorn does not admit he committed the crime but believes the evidence is such that he likely would be convicted and the punishment would be far worse.Â
Columbia Daily Tribune
Missouri attorneys and a legal scholar say the takeover of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters is the responsibility of the president and his allies in Congress, including U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley. It was a horrifying and shocking intrusion on the democratic process, plainly incited by the president of the United States, said Frank Bowman.
The MU law school s Student Bar Association has issued a statement calling for Hawley, a former professor there, to resign for his role in what it termed an attempted coup. In his relentless pursuit of power, Senator Hawley, a Yale-educated attorney, furthered President Trump s baseless election irregularity claims and committed sedition against the United States of America, the statement reads.