Closing arguments under way in Williams case
Closing arguments under way in Williams case
Skagit County Prosecutor Rich Weyrich makes the case to the jury Wednesday for the prosecution of Larry and Carri Williams for the death of their adopted daughter, Hana. Scott Terrell / Skagit Valley HeraldPosted: Wednesday, September 4, 2013 1:30 pm | Updated: 1:40 pm, Wed Sep 4, 2013.
By Gina Cole
MOUNT VERNON — Closing arguments have begun in the trial of a Sedro-Woolley-area couple accused of abusing their adopted teenage daughter to death.
Larry and Carri Williams are charged with homicide by abuse and first-degree manslaughter in the May 2011 death of Hana Williams, who collapsed in the family’s backyard and died of hypothermia hastened by malnutrition and a stomach condition.
The pair also are charged with first-degree assault of the younger boy they adopted from Ethiopia at the same time as Hana.
The trial is in its seventh week, making it the longest criminal trial Prosecutor Rich Weyrich said he or anyone in his office could remember in Skagit County.
Weyrich made his closing argument Wednesday morning, reminding jurors that the Williamses locked Hana in a closet, made her use a portable toilet and shower with a hose outside, fed her cold or frozen food and hit her with a belt, glue stick or piece of plumbing line.
Witnesses throughout the trial have recounted these punishments the adopted Williams children got, but few could recall why they got them, Weyrich said.
Weyrich asked the jury to weigh the credibility of various witnesses, including the Williamses themselves, who he said seemed to remember the answers to their own lawyers’ questions but not to prosecutors’.
Larry Williams testified he didn’t notice Hana had lost 30 pounds until he saw her naked, unconscious body the night she died. Carri Williams testified she thought Hana, who weighed about the same amount the night she died as when she first arrived from Ethiopia three years before, was healthy.
Hana was “intentionally starved” by people who said they didn’t realize she was wasting away, Weyrich argued.
Defense lawyers for Larry and Carri Williams will make their closing arguments this afternoon.
— Reporter Gina Cole: 360-416-2148, gcole@skagitpublishing.com, Twitter: @Gina_SVH, facebook.com/byGinaCole