TRENTON – A jury has found Keith Williams guilty in the Myspace murder-conspiracy case, dashing defense hopes for acquittal raised by key juror questions to the judge.
Keith Williams
Williams, who was calling himself a five-star Bloods general at age 19, now stands legally responsible for the execution of 20-year-old Arrel Bell, who took bullets behind both ears on May 1, 2008, for supposedly snitching about a gang heist the year before.
The jury came in not long after restarting deliberations at 9 a.m., though late Thursday afternoon they told the judge they wanted to review maybe hundreds of My Space messages with all kinds of different messages between Williams and other suspects – something that would require enough research to delay the trial until at least Monday.
Instead, it was a victory for Assistant Mercer County Prosecutor Brian McCauley, who sweated out the extended deliberations while defense lawyer Mark Fury smiled broadly and got more hopeful with each of the several questions raised by the jurors.