CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – After the January jury trial ended prematurely due to a familial connection between a juror and the defendant, the re-do trial for Timothy Lebrone Williams began Tuesday morning.
On Nov. 7, 2017, two armed men entered a home on Hundred Oaks Drive and confronted four occupants; then gunfire erupted. Christopher Lane, 34, was shot and later died from his injuries. Lane’s father, Lonnie, was fired at several times, and two others in the home were held against their will.
In April 2021, Williams, 34, and two others were indicted on multiple charges, including kidnapping and first-degree murder.
The original proceedings, held in January, resulted in a mistrial. On July 29, the case was brought before a new panel of jurors.
Prosecution: ‘He was going to take what he wanted’
Assistant District Attorney Mary O’Connor led the state’s opening argument Tuesday morning. “That night, Timothy Williams was going to take what he wanted,” O’Connor told the jury.
O’Connor explained that Williams and his two co-defendants, Warren Broomer and Matthew Bryant, were involved in a drug deal that killed Lane in his own home. While Williams and Broomer were robbing the home on Hundred Oaks Drive, Christopher Lane was fatally shot in the stomach, a noise that awoke his father, Lonnie Lane.
Lonnie rushed downstairs to investigate and narrowly escaped when the gunfire turned on him.
“That night, Mr. Williams came to take something,” O’Connor said. “And he got something. At the end of this case, we are asking you to find the defendant guilty on all charges.”
Defense: ‘You decide what makes sense’
Williams’ attorney, Stephanie Ritchie Mize, commended the state on “eloquently laying out their theory.”
“But what I believe that you’ll see is that the evidence just doesn’t match that theory,” Mize told the jury. She explained that there was nothing linking her client to Christopher Lane and that the lack of DNA evidence would support that Williams was not in the Lane house on the night of the crime.
Mize told the jury that they would hear through testimony that Matthew Bryan was a close friend of Christopher Lane, and he “set up his friend to get robbed, and his friend died.” Accompanying Bryan that night was Warren Broomer, who Mize says helped Bryan, not her client.
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“The state has a job to do,” Mize told the jury. “The officers have a job to do. … They want to bring closure to the families as soon as possible. They tell the family, ‘This is who we believe committed the crime, and this is why.’ And then we wait, for eight years.
“You have to decide what makes sense in this case,” Mize said.
January mistrial
On Jan. 30, both the state and defense rested their arguments after four days of testimony. Less than an hour and a half later, the presiding judge, Judge William Goodman III, received a note from one of the jurors: “Ashley Flair is my cousin.”
In prior testimony, Flair was identified as a cousin of the defendant, and also the owner of the house that Williams, Broomer and Bryan visited the night of Nov. 7, 2017.
The juror explained that Flair was their uncle’s daughter, making her the juror’s first cousin and distantly related to the defendant, Williams.
Judge Goodman declared a mistrial and reset the case for July.
Williams is facing one aggravated burglary charge, two counts of aggravated kidnapping, two counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, attempted aggravated robbery, attempted first-degree murder, and first-degree murder in perpetration of a crime.
The trial is set to resume at the Montgomery Courts Complex on Wednesday at 8:30 a.m.
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