Hagerstown man found guilty of murder almost a year after mistrial

Almost a year after a mistrial, the second jury to hear the case of Hagerstown resident Jason Tyrone Christie's murder found James Edward Williams guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death three years ago.

The Washington County jury deliberated for less than three hours Thursday before returning guilty verdicts on the murder charge and others including assault and gun charges. The trial began Monday.

Williams, 41, faces up to life in prison on the first-degree murder conviction alone.

Circuit Court Judge Mark K. Boyer ordered a pre-sentence investigation for Williams, though Williams said he didn't want one.

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Christie was shot twice in the torso in an alley off the 300 block of North Mulberry Street around 3:30 p.m. on Nov. 1, 2020, a Sunday.

A man living nearby found Christie after hearing loud, angry voices and hearing a loud sound, Assistant State's Attorney Beverly Plutnick told the jury during her closing argument.

Key during both trials was identification issues, with the state arguing it was Williams' car that left the shooting scene, and that Williams was "Ice" from Brooklyn, N.Y. Christie made dying declarations to the responding resident in the neighborhood, as well as to police, that Ice was the man who shot him. And that Ice was from Brooklyn.

Plutnick said Snapchat messages on a phone owned by Christie and a number tied to Williams showed a meeting being set up that Sunday.

The responding neighbor described an Infiniti leaving the scene, Plutnick said. Police used city surveillance footage to track at least some of the car's movements. An officer later found a car matching the vehicle description parked along Knightsbridge Drive.

A Ring doorbell camera showed the defendant exiting the car and walking toward Brinker Drive, Plutnick said.

When Williams was charged in November 2020, the address on his charging documents was near Martinsburg, W.Va. Plutnick said the temporary tag to a vehicle matching the description of the suspect's car came back registered to Williams with a Brinker Drive address in Hagerstown.

Knightsbridge and Brinker are both south of East Wilson Boulevard and west of Frederick Street in Hagerstown's South End.

Police set up surveillance on the car and when Williams arrived at the car, police took him into custody.

Police executed a search and seizure warrant on the home and found a .22-caliber firearm and a .40-caliber firearm. Christie was shot with a .22, Plutnick said.

Both the state and defense stipulated that Williams, due to a previous conviction, was prohibited from possessing a regulated firearm.

Plutnick argued in her closing that Williams showed up at a marijuana buy with a loaded gun.

Prosecutors don't know what was argued about, but "something happened during that meetup in the alley," Plutnick told the jury.

During the jury deliberations in the January trial, that jury asked to again see the video of the Infiniti the suspect was believed to be traveling in after the shooting. The jury periodically asked that the video be stopped at various points including where the driver would be most visible through the windshield.

But that jury deadlocked, resulting in the state trying the case again this month.

Plutnick, lead prosecutor for both trials, said in an interview after the verdict Thursday that the state had "some additional evidence" for the second trial.

That included a comment made on a Hagerstown Police Facebook post of a news release about the arrest. The commenter, responding to someone else, wrote, "LOL" and "That's Ice," Plutnick said.

Plutnick, during her closing, said a detective confirmed the Facebook commenter's account and post.

The commenter knew the defendant as Ice, Plutnick said.

And when Williams was booked, he answered Brooklyn, N.Y., regarding his place of birth, Plutnick said.

But Assistant Public Defender Robert Kline, in his closing, said that man said he didn't write that comment and that his girlfriend was accessing his Facebook account at the time.

Kline, who did not represent Williams at the January trial, pointed out numerous issues in the state's case where he thought there was reasonable doubt. That included that no one had identified the person in the car. The fact that someone owns the car doesn't mean that is the only person who drives the car, he said.

The only identification of the defendant, providing the most favorable reading of the state's case, Kline said, was the Facebook post that the witness denied.

Before the case went to closing arguments Thursday morning, with the jury not in the courtroom, Kline requested to reopen the defense's case per a request from Williams.

Kline had said Wednesday afternoon, after not calling any defense witnesses, that the defense had rested.

On Thursday morning, Kline said Williams wanted to reopen the defense regarding the authenticity of the Facebook posts.

Boyer denied the motion.

Williams then spoke up, despite Kline suggesting he not.

"This is my life. ... Can I say something?" Williams said.

Williams expressed concern about inconsistencies with the Facebook account of the commenter and that the commenter didn't know him.

Boyer said Kline could raise concerns about the Facebook account and post in his closing argument and again denied the motion to reopen the defense's case.

The jury went back to the jury room around 1:10 p.m. Thursday to deliberate, with menus sent to them to order lunch.

The jury returned around 4 p.m. with its verdict.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Jury in second trial finds man guilty of 2020 Hagerstown murder