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On Monday, the prosecution wrapped up questioning their second witness, Officer Connor Wilson from Western Carolina University police, in the ongoing federal drug trafficking trial of Sean Williams. This concluded just after 6 p.m., setting the stage for the defense’s cross-examination.
During the cross-examination, defense attorney Carson Smith persisted with the strategy introduced by his colleague, Trevor Perkins, to cast doubt on Williams’s alleged intent to distribute the cocaine and methamphetamine discovered in his possession on April 29, 2023. They argued that the evidence supporting resale intent was weak.
On the other hand, Prosecutor Chris Hess focused on presenting the jury with the substantial quantities of drugs seized, which were stored in large packages. Despite this, none of the packages appeared to be ready for street-level distribution, which the defense highlighted in their argument.
Smith also displayed images of the cash found with Williams—amounting to over $100,000—arguing that it likely originated from the sale of Williams’s three Johnson City apartments in May 2022. By suggesting a lack of direct linkage between the cash and drug-related earnings, Smith aimed to instill reasonable doubt in the jury regarding the prosecution’s claims.
The prosecution plans to call their final witness on Tuesday morning. Kevin Lau, an agent with the Bureau of Indian Affairs who collaborated with the Drug Enforcement Administration, will testify before closing arguments commence. Judge Martin Reidinger anticipates that the jury, composed of eight men and four women, will hear these final arguments and begin their deliberations by around noon on Tuesday.
4:20 p.m. Update — Defense co-counsel Trevor Perkins is making the defense’s case clear in Sean Williams’s drug trafficking case.
Perkins said in his opening statement that the aim would be to show that the large amount of drugs seized in Williams’s vehicle was, in fact, for personal use.
“That phrase intent to distribute, that’s the real issue in this case,” Perkins said, adding, “heavy personal use can explain a lot of what was in that vehicle.”
He said the evidence in the case would show “a man with a large sum of money and a serious drug addiction. What it will not show is intent to distribute. “
Prosecutor Chris Hess, though, argued that the amount of drugs found — 14 ounces of methamphetamine and eight ounces of cocaine — are strong evidence of intent to traffic the drugs.
Hess also pointed to two jailhouse phone calls, which are likely to be entered into evidence and played for the jury Tuesday, that he said Williams placed in late August 2023, about four months after his arrest.
Williams, he said, told the person he was talking to, “I got it because I had to find a new way to make a living.”
After Hess reviewed with WCU Officer Charles Gooden the events of Williams’s arrest and the items seized, Perkins spent more than an hour cross-examining Gooden.
Along with attempting to show Gooden’s lack of experience, Perkins homed in on the many items taken into evidence that could suggest Williams was consuming large amounts of drugs. And he reviewed what he suggested was a lack of strong evidence of drug dealing — no text messages or phone logs found, no pre-packaged drugs, and a large amount of baking soda, which he suggested could have been used by Williams to mix with cocaine to create crack cocaine for personal consumption.
Hess, who told jurors they’d hear recordings of Williams speaking several times about his drug possession, said one call also allegedly included comments by Williams that he bought meth for $86 an ounce and could sell it for $350-$400.
The jury was given a 15-minute break shortly after 4 p.m.
CULLOWHEE, N.C. (WJHL) — Opening arguments in Sean Williams’s federal trial on charges of possessing methamphetamine and cocaine with intent to distribute began Monday in Western North Carolina U.S. District Court after an eight-man, four-woman jury was seated Monday morning.
Williams, an alleged serial rapist and convicted child sex offender, faces two counts of manufacturing, distributing or dispensing a controlled substance in the trial. Each count carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years if convicted of methamphetamine and a maximum of 20 years for cocaine.
Prosecutor Chris Hess told U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger he expects to complete his case in North Carolina by Monday evening or at the latest noon on Tuesday. Hess will call three witnesses, all law enforcement officers.
Lead defense attorney Carson Smith has not announced any witnesses he plans to call, but will be able to cross-examine two Western Carolina University (WCU) police officers involved in Williams’s April 29, 2023 arrest in Cullowhee, NC. It was during that encounter and arrest that WCU officers claim they seized about 14 ounces of methamphetamine and what has now determined to be about eight ounces of cocaine from the vehicle Williams was found in.
Williams was also found with just over $100,000 in cash. Officers searching computers and digital devices allegedly in his possession claim to have later found video and photographic evidence of Williams sexually assaulting dozens of different women in his Johnson City apartment.
Williams has stipulated in writing to the fact that the prosecution has tested the substances he is alleged to have possessed. But the defense adds in that stipulation that Williams “is not admitting that the Defendant possessed the controlled substances at issue.
“To the contrary, the defendant specifically denies the drug charges in this case. In other words, the defendant merely agrees that the laboratory tests prove that the materials seized are the aforementioned drugs.”
Reidinger told jurors he expects the trial to be complete by the end of Tuesday, or early Wednesday at the latest.
Williams was previously sentenced to 95 years in prison for charges related to child sex abuse materials and escape.