Williams found guilty of second-degree murder

After two days of testimony, Judge William Syler found Steven Williams guilty of second-degree murder Wednesday in Cape Girardeau County Circuit Court.

Williams, 37, took the stand in his own defense Wednesday afternoon as he and his public defenders, Jennifer Booth and Amy Commean, tried to convince Syler to convict him of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.

Syler rejected the argument, which hinged on the notion that Williams was blinded by "sudden passion" when he shot Darcus Purl to death Sept. 20, 2012.

Purl, 38, and Williams both had been romantically involved with a neighbor, Georgia Cowson.

Dr. Russell Deidiker, the forensic pathologist who conducted an autopsy on Purl, testified Wednesday that Purl had two fatal gunshot wounds -- one that perforated his lungs and another that perforated his intestine and liver.

Purl also had nonfatal gunshot wounds to his buttock, knee, calf, right forearm and left hand, Deidiker said.

Booth argued Wednesday for Syler to reduce the charge against her client to voluntary manslaughter.

She said Williams acted out of "sudden passion" based on fear and anger when his long-standing conflict with Purl appeared to be escalating into a physical confrontation, with Cowson twice trying to restrain Purl as he approached Williams.

"The passions of panic and rage can be rapid and fierce and blinding," Booth said.

In testimony Wednesday, detectives Darren Estes and Jimmy Smith of the Cape Girardeau Police Department identified multiple inconsistencies in Williams' statements to police, including:

• After telling patrolman Ryan Droege his camcorder had been stolen, Williams told Estes he had recorded Cowson walking down the street.
• Williams claimed another man, Ray Purl, fired at him just before he shot Darcus Purl. Security camera footage showed Ray Purl at a store on the other side of town at the time of the shooting.
• Williams told Estes that Darcus Purl never got his gun out, but later, in explaining why he shot Purl while he was on the ground, Williams claimed Purl had dropped his gun and appeared to be reaching for it.
• Williams told Smith he had cried because he missed Cowson but also claimed he and Cowson had gotten back together.
• Williams said Purl had a revolver tucked in his waistband, but he also said Purl never got the gun out, and he saw only the handle. It would be impossible to identify a gun as a revolver solely by looking at its handle, Smith said.

Williams testified on his own behalf Wednesday, acknowledging he lied to police after the shooting.

"I was afraid," he told Commean.

In brief responses to a series of questions by Commean, the soft-spoken Williams indicated he had gone to great lengths to minimize his encounters with Purl and panicked when a verbal argument started to escalate.

Williams told Commean he did not remember firing some of the shots.

"I remember shooting him in the hands. I don't remember shooting him in the chest," he said. "... I don't remember standing over him, shooting him."

During cross-examination, Williams balked when assistant prosecuting attorney Angel Woodruff pressed him to admit he had killed Purl.

"I shot him," Williams said.

"And he died because of those gunshot wounds. Do you understand that?" Woodruff asked.

"Yes," Williams finally replied.

Woodruff asked Williams whether he thought he did anything wrong when he shot Purl.

"When I shot him the first time, it was just something that happened," Williams said.

Woodruff asked him about each subsequent shot. He seemed to stumble over his responses, and by the time Woodruff got to the fourth shot, Williams said he didn't remember firing any other shots.

Woodruff continued the line of questioning anyway, asking Williams separate questions about the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth shots.

"Everything happened really fast," Williams said. "You're implying there were pauses, and there weren't."

Before any witnesses took the stand Wednesday, Syler granted a defense motion to strike testimony from Melissa Robbins, a neighbor who on Tuesday said Williams broke into her home after the shooting, pointed a gun at her and ordered her to call 911.

Robbins' testimony directly countered statements she made to police, in which she said Williams did not get out the gun or threaten her.

In court Wednesday morning, Commean said Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Chris Limbaugh failed to tell her about a conversation he had with Robbins five days before the trial, during which he learned Robbins' testimony might differ from her statements to police.

"I was shocked by her testimony, and I failed to object in a timely fashion because I was so shocked," Commean said.

She said her failure to object could become the basis for an appeal if Robbins' testimony were included.

"It's not our position that the state was being duplicitous in any way ... but it should have been disclosed to the defense, and I think it caught everybody off-guard," Booth said.

In announcing the verdict Wednesday, Syler said Williams' complaints to police about Purl in the days leading up to the murder appeared "pretextual, in an effort to, quite frankly, set up his own case."

Syler ordered a presentence investigation and set the case for sentencing July 21.

After the trial, Woodruff said she hoped the verdict would comfort Purl's family.

"I am very pleased with the verdict," she said. "I hope it gives the Purl family some measure of peace to know that Mr. Williams was convicted of what he did."

epriddy@semissourian.com

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