What was supposed to be a 10 minute break for jurors in the Jamarris Williams murder trial at 10:15 a.m. Wednesday turned into a 45-minute break. Jurors were called back into the courtroom just after 11 a.m. and subsequently sent to lunch early with instructions to return at 1 p.m. There were indications that Williams and his defense team were considering a plea deal. Chief assistant district attorney Scott Johnston summoned members of the Dixson family for a meeting and later said “the family is onboard”. Courtroom personnel could be heard discussing a deal in which Williams would enter a guilty plea to one count of felony murder and be sentenced to life in prison. No official announcement of the deal has been made and court has been adjourned until 1 p.m. Meeting at the bench: Court opened with a meeting at the bench of lawyers from both sides. Johnston noted that he had just learned Jenez Williams had passed a polygraph test with regard to the Dixson killing at some point. That information was not in the discovery file given to the defense. Lead public defender Douglas Smith expressed aggravation over the situation. Both noted polygraph results are inadmissible and Judge Bill Fears agreed. Johnston said he had no plans to put Jenez Williams on the stand but Smith said he was going to elicit testimony from the defendant’s brother. Judge Fears assured Smith he would give the defense time to review the polygraph report. Also discussd was the small knife that fell out of an evidence bag the day before. Smith said he was sure at least a couple of jurors had seen the knife and discussed it. “The cat is out of the bag,” he noted. “It’s fair game,” Judge Fears said of the knife. At question was whether the defense would want to call attention to a knife in a case in which the victim died of stab wounds. Todd Crosby, GBI crime scene specialist: Once testimony began, GBI crime scene specialist Todd Crosby was back on the stand for continued cross examination by defense attorney Rusty Knox. Knox grilled Crosby on evidence from the scenes at 906 Forsyth-Yatesville Rd, 10 Miami St. and Lot 10, Fuller’s Trailer Park. When Crosby opened an evidence bag containing a pair of Jamarris Williams’ tennis shoes, another evidence bag fell out of it. ”I have no idea how it got in there,” Crosby said. The evidence bag contained a Family Dollar bag with some blue shorts in it that Crosby said belonged to Christa Evans. No blood was detected on the tennis shoes. Crosby also spoke of swabbing the mouth of Jamarris Williams for DNA and clipping his fingernails for the same purpose on the day he was arrested. Additionally, he said no fingerprints were found on items from the trash at Deana Jackson’s home. During redirect questioning, Johnston queried Crosby as to whether any cash was found on Dixson’s body. He replied in the negative.
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