Jury reaches compromise verdict in killing of 3-year-old
Mother convicted of third-degree murder
Faced with a lone holdout and the prospect of a hung jury, 11 jurors switched their vote from firstdegree to third-degree murder, sparing 27-year-old Adriene Williams life in prison for the death of her 3-year-old daughter.
The jury foreman, interviewed Friday following the verdict in the nine-day trial, said in tones of frustration that 11 members of the three-man, nine-woman panel had immediately agreed on Tuesday afternoon that Ms. Williams, of Wilkinsburg, should be found guilty of first-degree murder. The jury had been sent to deliberate at noon Tuesday.
But there was one holdout — a woman, said the foreman, who declined to identify himself or the holdout juror.
“One of the jurors was not using common sense. Eleven of us had to show her, ‘This is the evidence. This is the timeline.’ This morning she kind of realized it,” the foreman said.
He went on to say that each of the 11 who agreed on guilt thought
that the verdict should be murder in the first degree but that switching their decision to third-degree murder was a necessary compromise.
“It would have been a mistrial [if we hadn’t],” he said. The maximum sentence for third-degree murder is 20 to 40 years in jail, according to a spokesman for the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office. A conviction for first-degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence.
On Thursday, the jury sent a note to Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Anthony Mariani, asking, “What actions need to be taken if deliberations are stalled due to arguments being made without factual support? We feel we may be at an impasse.”
Judge Mariani called the jurors into the courtroom and read to them for a second time a set of instructions on how to conduct deliberations and weigh evidence. The jury instructions were a longer version of the directions the judge had read to them Tuesday morning.
The trial began Aug. 16. The prosecution presented witnesses through the close of court on Monday. The defense case — handled by Brandon Herring and Lisa Leake, both courtappointed attorneys — opened and closed in a minute with the single statement: “The defense rests,” from Mr. Herring. That was Tuesday morning. Ms. Williams was queried by the judge as to whether she understood that she had the right to testify and to present character witnesses. She said she did.
The jury resumed its deliberations at 9 a.m. Friday and delivered its verdict about 1:30 p.m.
In addition to third-degree murder, Ms. Williams was found guilty of abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence. The body of 3-year-old Adrionna Williams was found over an embankment off a road closed to traffic in Swissvale by a woman walking her dog.
Authorities contended Ms. Williams hid a shirt she had been wearing that had a substance suspected to be a combination of vomit and watermelon. The child had been eating watermelon at her grandmother’s house in Wilkinsburg after her mother brought Adrionna there to be babysat on the evening of June 14, 2015.
Ms. Williams was supposed to be going to work at a security job in Oakland.
As the jury members filed into the courtroom Friday, ready to give their verdict, two members were clutching Kleenex, their eyes and noses red. As the foreman prepared to read the verdict, he bowed his head and sighed heavily.
Ms. Williams burst into tears and dropped her head to the defense table, sobbing as each member of the jury intoned agreement with the guilty verdicts. Sentencing was set for 9 a.m. Nov. 28.
Mr. Herring said he appreciated the jury’s “careful deliberations.” He had no comment on the holdout or the compromise decision from the panel. Assistant district attorney Kevin Chernosky also had no comment. Ms. Leake and Mr. Herring said Ms. Williams maintains her innocence and they intend to file an appeal.