BELLEFONTE: Jurors in the trial of an Arnold man accused of killing his cousin in 2000 will hear testimony from witnesses who saw the victim alive three days after prosecutors say he was killed, the defense attorney said Monday.
Joseph Beegle Williams, 54, of Woodmont Avenue is charged with first- and third-degree murder in the slaying of David Kenneth Williams, 45, of Clearfield. He also is charged with tampering with physical evidence and abuse of a corpse. His trial began Monday in Bellefonte.
The men spent the weekend of Oct. 13, 2000, squirrel hunting at a cabin in Worth Township.
Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar contends that some time from Oct. 14 to Oct. 15, 2000, Joseph Williams shot David Williams in the neck as the victim sat near the cabin. Gricar said Joseph Williams then stripped the clothes off David Williams to speed decomposition of the body, and covered up the body with tree limbs and firewood about 20 yards from the camp.
The prosecution has provided no motive for the killing so far.
About 30 friends and family members of both Joseph and David Williams packed the small courtroom Monday. Joseph Williams spoke to his wife and children seated directly behind him before the trial began and waved to others in the courtroom.
Defense lawyer Thomas Ceraso told jurors they would hear from a witness who said she saw David Williams sitting on the porch of the hunting camp on Oct. 18, 2000. The woman said she was driving by the camp and saw a man with a beard sitting on the porch, Ceraso said.
"And then she sees David Williams' picture on TV and recognizes him as the man she saw on the porch," Ceraso said. He also plans to call another witness who saw smoke coming from the chimney on Oct. 17, after Joseph Williams had left the camp.
Joseph Williams told police and acquaintances varying stories about what happened the weekend of Oct. 13, 2000, according to police reports contained in court files. The common thread among them is that David Williams disappeared on Oct. 14 and hadn't returned when Joseph Williams, a former teacher at Deer Lakes School District, left the camp Oct. 15 to go back to work.
Insects date death
Penn State professor Ke Jhung Kim, a forensic entomologist, studied samples of insects taken from David Williams' body to estimate when the body was placed in the woods. Based on his findings, Kim said he believed Williams' body was placed in the woods sometime from sunset Oct. 14 to sunrise Oct. 15.
Kim admitted during questioning by Assistant District Attorney Lance Marshall that forensic entomology is not an exact science.
"It's not one-plus-one-is-two type of science," he said. "Interpretation ... is a variable."
Ceraso questioned Kim closely on his methodology, asking Kim why police waited 12 hours after David Williams was found to collect the insects.
Insects have a relatively short life span and mature quickly, Kim explained to the jury. To make conclusions about time of death, scientists must determine what stage of life the insects are in when the body is found and then backtrack to decide when the person had died.
"They were collected relatively quickly," Kim said.
Ceraso said, "They found the body the night before."
Kim explained that insects are not active at night and in colder temperatures and said, "It doesn't matter whether (samples are taken) at the time or a little later."
Ceraso also questioned Kim about using data from a weather station in DuBois to reach conclusions about time of death when there was a closer weather station to the camp. Kim said the closer weather station was private and does not always keep records.
"I trust the data from DuBois," he said.
Gricar also called Clearfield resident Gary Smeal to the stand Monday afternoon to tell the jury about an incident he witnessed at the camp in late April 2000. Smeal and another man had visited the camp to see if they could borrow a chain to tow a broken-down car. While they were there, Smeal said, Joseph Williams pulled a hand gun out of a holster he was wearing and fired four rounds into a burn barrel outside the cabin.
"I thought someone was going to get hit," Smeal said, adding that he "talked to Dave about it (later) and he said Joe didn't remember."
Erin L. Nissley is a staff writer for the Centre Daily Times.
