Overview
- Jurors started deliberating Thursday afternoon in the case of Semmie Williams Jr., accused of fatally stabbing 14-year-old Ryan Rogers in 2021, and will resume Friday morning.
- Judge Cymonie Rowe ordered an emergency competency evaluation Thursday; a psychologist examined Williams at the jail, and he was deemed competent and returned to the stand, according to the state attorney’s office.
- Williams testified that he was a longtime target of shadowy groups, claimed electronic harassment and implanted chips, denied killing Rogers, said he came upon the teen after the attack, and disputed DNA findings.
- Prosecutors highlighted surveillance tracing Williams from Miami to the scene, Rogers’ blood on a bandana in Williams’ backpack, the victim’s DNA under Williams’ fingernails, and testimony about an alleged confession, arguing he acted alone and fled.
- The defense cast the case as circumstantial, challenged the handling of forensic evidence and the alleged confession, and argued the state failed to prove premeditation, with the death penalty off the table due to a prior intellectual-disability ruling.