Murder trial begins in ’17 shooting death near nightclub
The first-degree murder trial of a local man who is accused of shooting another man to death as he sat in his car near a former nightclub on Broadway Street in 2017 began Monday in Garland County Circuit Court.
McKinley Junior Williams,
31, who has remained in custody since his arrest on Feb.
26, 2018, could face up to life in prison if convicted of the July 16, 2017, death of Timothy Edmund Martin, 37, across the street from the former Boot Scooters club, 421 Broadway St.
Williams, a felon previously classified as a habitual offender, is also charged with possession of a firearm by certain persons, punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
Hot Springs police identified Williams as the shooter and another man, Kirkland Eugene Litzsey, 31, of Little Rock, as the person who drove Williams to and from the scene. Litzsey pleaded guilty on March 4, 2019, to hindering apprehension and prosecution for his role in the murder and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Williams’ attorney, Chief Public Defender Tim Beckham, told the seven-woman, five-man jury in his opening statement that Litzsey was “the linchpin” in the prosecution’s case against Williams and argued that all the evidence actually points to Litzsey as the shooter, noting they used his car and he later helped police find the gun Williams allegedly used.
“Everything points to (Litzsey) but the problem is that he talked to the cops and (Williams) didn’t talk to the cops,” Beckham said, noting Litzsey hired some expensive attorneys and “got his money’s worth.”
Beckham noted that Monday was Williams’ birthday and that it was the night before his birthday, his 29th, on the night of the shooting and he was celebrating with his friends that night. “He had no intent to kill anybody that night and he didn’t kill anybody that night,” he said.
Chief Deputy Prosecutor Kara Petro told the jury Litzsey had agreed to testify against Williams and would tell how after “hanging out” with other friends for most of the day he had met up with Williams at Boot Scooters the night of the shooting.
She said he would tell how they went to another club, Rumors, at one point with another friend but eventually, the two of them returned to Boot Scooters in Litzsey’s car, a silver Dodge Challenger, and circled the block. She said Litzsey says Williams got out of the car at one point and moments later he heard three gunshots.
Petro said Litzsey will say how Williams came running back holding a gun with a T-shirt wrapped around his head and jumped in the front passenger seat yelling, “Go! Go! Go!” They left and Litzsey kept asking Williams what happened but he told him not to worry about it. Litzsey got a call minutes later about Martin being shot by the club.
She said Litzsey confronted Williams and he admitted to him that he shot Martin. Litzsey wanted to get away from Williams but he still had the gun, which he had put in his waistband, so they went to Rumors. Litzsey later insisted on going back to Boot Scooters, thinking Williams wouldn’t want to go, but he agreed and they returned and stayed there for a few hours.
Litzsey was arrested on Aug. 15, 2017, and later agreed to tell police what happened. Petro said when Williams was questioned he admitted to being at Boot Scooters and Rumors, but denied any involvement in the shooting.
She said Detective Scott Lampinen obtained security video from Boot Scooters that captured the shooting, noting “it all happened in six seconds,” and collected video from “businesses all over town” that tracked the movements of the Challenger and got images of Litzsey and Williams at the different clubs.
Deandre Collins, who was in the car with Martin when he was shot, testified Monday they had gone to Boot Scooters that night like they often did and were sitting in Martin’s car across from the club “drinking vodka” and putting on cologne getting ready to go inside.
Collins, who was sitting in the front passenger seat next to Martin in the driver’s seat, said he was turned toward Martin talking when “out of nowhere shots came,” noting he ducked down as soon as the shooting started and never saw the shooter. He said the shots came “one after another” with no pauses in between.
“It happened fast,” he said, noting he yelled, “Bro? Bro?” at Martin after the shooting stopped and when he didn’t answer he jumped out and ran into the club for help because he couldn’t find his phone.
Beckham asked Collins if, since he was on probation from a prior felony drug conviction, he was banned from associating with people like Martin since he was a drug dealer. Collins said Martin was not a drug dealer and the line of questioning was halted after Petro objected and Petro and Beckham spoke at the bench with Judge Marcia Hearnsberger.
Mark Rodriguez, who was working as a bouncer at Boot Scooters that night, testified he had seen Martin, a regular at the club, park across the street and then heard gunshots and turned to see a man firing into the passenger window of Martin’s car, holding a silver pistol with both hands.
He said he fired four to five shots and then “ran back the way he came” around the side of a building across the street. He said he ran to check on Martin and saw he was deceased, noting his foot was still on the gas pedal, causing the engine to run, but he was slumped in the seat and the right side of his face was “hanging off.”
Petro had told the jury earlier the medical examiner would testify Martin was shot twice on the right side of his head and once in the leg.
The trial is scheduled to resume today with Deputy Prosecutors Trent Daniels and Casey Richmond also representing the state.