Williams daughters: Adopted siblings got different punishments

Williams daughters: Adopted siblings got different punishments

Parents charged with abusing adopted girl to death

Carri Williams reacts as her 14-year-old daughter arrives in the courtroom Monday morning. Scott Terrell / Skagit Valley Herald

Posted: Tuesday, August 6, 2013 6:00 am

By Gina Cole

MOUNT VERNON — The two Ethiopian children adopted into a Sedro-Woolley family were punished more than were the seven biological children, two of the family’s biological daughters testified Monday.

While the biological children were spanked on their backsides if they misbehaved, the adopted ones were also hit on the bottoms of their feet, backs of their legs and sometimes the tops of their heads, one girl said. Any of the children could be denied food for disobeying, but the adopted children were the only ones who missed more than one meal in a row, the other said.

The parents in that family, Larry and Carri Williams, are charged with homicide by abuse and first-degree manslaughter in the death of their adopted daughter, Hana, who collapsed in the family’s backyard in May 2011 and died of hypothermia hastened by malnutrition. They also are charged with first-degree assault in connection with alleged abuse of their younger adopted son.

They have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Monday, the sixth day of witness testimony, was the first day any of the biological Williams children took the stand. It was also the first time Larry and Carri Williams had seen any of their biological children in about two years. The daughters who testified Monday, who are 14 and 13, are living with an aunt and uncle while the case against their parents has been pending.

The 14-year-old, who testified in the morning, said she never saw marks on her siblings from spankings. But she also said Hana was hit on the back of the legs the night she died. Hana’s autopsy photos show marks on the backs of her legs consistent with being hit with a long, thin instrument like the one Larry and Carri used, Dr. Daniel Selove testified last week.

Hana acted “really good” when she first arrived at the Williams home, but started to rebel after a year or so, the older girl testified. The adopted boy didn’t listen to his new parents from the start, she said. This led to warnings, then swats and eventually spankings or “training” with a switch, which eventually the two adopted children experienced more often than anyone else in the house, she said.

The adopted children’s schoolwork started to slip around the same time, the older girl testified.

Sometimes, the adopted children were sent out to the covered patio to eat their meals, which could include wet peanut butter sandwiches or frozen vegetables, the older girl said. The adopted boy testified last week that he and Hana were sent outside to eat even if it was snowing.

Hana’s hair was once shorn close to her scalp because she clipped the grass too short, the older girl said. Later in the morning, when defense attorneys asked if it was also because Hana didn’t wash her shampoo out all the way, the girl said yes.

Hana was the only child who had to shower outside with a hose or sleep in the family’s barn, the older girl testified.

The older girl said Monday morning that the night Hana died, she checked on her every 10 or 15 minutes by turning the porch light on and then back off. Hana had refused to come inside that night, she said.

Before she died, Hana’s 5-foot-tall, 80-pound body looked “healthy,” the older girl testified Monday.

“She didn’t look cold,” the girl said.

The adopted boy is set to return to the stand Tuesday afternoon.

More biological Williams children may testify in the days ahead. Two sons have said through their attorneys they intend to assert their Fifth Amendment rights not to answer questions on the stand, especially since their adopted brother testified one of them administered the same punishments as the parents had. Now, a deal could be in the works with the prosecutors to grant the boys a form of immunity for their testimony.

— Reporter Gina Cole: 360-416-2148, gcole@skagitpublishing.com, Twitter: @Gina_SVH, facebook.com/byGinaCole