Jurors in the capital murder trial of former Schofield Barracks soldier Naeem Williams were scheduled to begin deliberating Wednesday morning after hearing closing arguments Tuesday.
Williams, 34, could face the death penalty for allegedly killing his 5-year-old daughter, Talia Williams, on July 16, 2005, through child abuse and for participating with his wife, Delilah Williams, in killing the girl through assault and torture over a seven-month period.
Both charges are for federal first-degree felony murder. If the jurors find Naeem Williams guilty of either of the capital murder charges, they will then have to decide whether he deserves the death penalty following more testimony.
Hawaii has not had the death penalty on its law books since the territorial Legislature abolished it before statehood. And even though capital punishment remains under federal law, no other federal defendant has stood trial in Hawaii since then for a death penalty offense.
The jurors can return verdicts of only guilty or not guilty because they do not have the option of finding Williams guilty of lesser crimes.
They will also have to decide whether Williams is guilty of conspiring with Delilah Williams to murder their child through assault and torture, of destroying evidence and of lying to Army investigators.
Naeem Williams testified that he wiped his daughter’s blood off the walls of her bedroom from previous beatings before authorities arrived at his home at Wheeler Army Airfield and that he lied to Army investigators about how she died. And he and his wife testified that each knew the other had been beating her.
Prosecutor Steven Mellin said each stood by as the other beat the girl.
"It was like they were trying to outdo each other," he said.
Tuesday’s closing arguments capped off 20 days of testimony over five weeks.
Williams’ lawyers presented witness testimony contesting only one charge, murder through child abuse.
Defense lawyer John Philipsborn told the jurors the government cannot claim that Williams killed his daughter through child abuse and that he also killed her though assault and torture.
"You cannot have it both ways," he said.
Philipsborn said defense medical experts created enough reasonable doubt over what killed Talia Williams to point the finger at Delilah Williams, who testified she stomped on her stepdaughter and slammed the girl’s head into a wall 17 days before the girl died. He said injuries from that beating started the spiral that led to her death, and even suggested that the beating happened later than when Delilah Williams said it did.
The Honolulu medical examiner who performed the autopsy said the girl died of a head injury that was inflicted on the day of her death.
Naeem Williams said he hit his daughter in the back, causing her to fall and hit the back of her head on the concrete floor of the family’s home.
Mellin told the jurors it was a blow to Talia Williams’ chest that separated the girl’s left shoulder and caused her to fall backward and hit her head.
