Mistrial declared in case of 2 killings

More than a year of waiting and three full days of trial ended abruptly Thursday with a hand-written note delivered to the judge in the case against Rick Morocco Williams, who is charged with two counts of murder.

A juror whose son died by gunfire felt compelled to disclose his personal story. Upon reading the note, Judge Stephanie McDonald declared a mistrial Thursday morning.

The note, written as early as Monday, reached McDonald after the alternate jurors had been dismissed and the remaining members had begun deliberating in the case. The juror wrote in the note that authorities had ruled his son's death a suicide, but that he still harbored doubts.

Williams has admitted fatally shooting his roommates on New Year's Eve of 2010. The 26-year-old North Charleston man testified that he shot 58-year-old Nathaniel Lonnie after Lonnie attacked him with a sword, and that he shot Lonnie's 44-year-old girlfriend, Angela Ferguson, after she came after him with a box cutter.

When the judge excused the jury Thursday, Williams loosened his tie and slipped it over his head before glancing at his family in the front row and stepping out of the courtroom.

His defense attorney, Beattie Butler, said the juror should have answered "yes," when asked on the first day of trial if anyone had a family member or friend who was the victim of violent crime.

Although the jurors said they had reached a verdict in one of the murder counts late Wednesday afternoon, Butler said they seemed less certain Thursday morning.

"They were undecided on both counts," he said. "They were not going to reach a verdict either way."

Solicitor Scarlett Wilson disagreed, saying, "I think we would have gotten a verdict." She called the mistrial a "huge opportunity cost," given the limited time and resources available to try cases.

"There are not enough judges, not enough court reporters," she said. "It's herding cats getting all those witnesses together. It's beyond frustrating."

Williams' case revealed a bizarre narrative. He testified that the argument that launched the violence began over a neighbor's dog.

Williams said he took the dog for a walk, and the neighbor became upset and went over to complain. The disagreement touched off a spat with Lonnie, Williams testified, and that Lonnie came at him with a sword.

Williams testified that he later returned to the home on Durant Avenue to retrieve some belongings and that Lonnie attacked him with a liquor bottle and the sword. Williams said he shot Lonnie in self-defense, then shot Ferguson for coming at him with a box cutter.

Prosecutors introduced witnesses who said Williams threatened to "shoot up" the house before the attacks. Prosecutors also questioned why Williams moved the sword and box cutter, if leaving the weapons in place would have helped his defense.

The case isn't expected to be retried for months.

Reach Allyson Bird at 937-5594 or on Twitter at @allysonjbird.