Convicted murderer pleads for leniency

Joshua Williams said he feels terrible and has extreme remorse for killing Jamil Khan, his partner in an indoor marijuana-growing operation, and for dismembering Khan’s body and disposing it in the trash.

"Very hard to bear, the guilt I still hold every day," he said Friday.

A state jury found Williams, 27, guilty of second-degree murder in the April 7, 2010, disappearance of Khan, 24. Police have not recovered Khan’s body.

The same jury that convicted Williams on Sept. 1 returned to state court Friday to determine whether Williams should be imprisoned for the rest of his life without the opportunity for parole.

The normal penalty for second-degree murder is life in prison with possible parole, but the judge can imposed so-called "enhanced" sentencing for particularly heinous crimes.

To stave off the harshest penalty under state law, Williams did something he did not do in his murder trial in August: He took the witness stand, insisting that he and Michael Connolly, another partner in the marijuana operation, killed Khan in self-defense.

The state said it wants Williams to get the harsher penalty to protect the public, claiming the murder was done in such an atrocious or cruel way as to intentionally inflict extreme physical or mental suffering.

In his statements to police and friends, Williams said he held Khan while Connelly hit him on the head with a hammer. He said he and Connolly then dragged Khan’s body to the bathroom of Williams’ Makakilo home, where Williams slit Khan’s throat.

Should the jury determine that Williams deserves the harsher penalty for murder, state Circuit Judge Karen Ahn will decide whether to impose it.

The state is also asking the jury to decide whether Williams deserves double the jail time for his convictions for commercially growing marijuana in his home, possessing paraphernalia for the growing operation and driving and burning Khan’s sport utility vehicle.

Connolly is scheduled to stand trial for murder in February.