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Williams convicted of 1st degree murder

Rashawn D. Williams exits the Lycoming County Courthouse escorted by a sheriff’s deputy after the jury returned a verdict of guilty in his murder trial Monday night. KATELYN HIBBARD/Sun-Gazette

Scott Cole’s family and friends burst into tears in a quiet Lycoming County Courthouse Monday night after Rashawn D. Williams was found guilty of first degree murder.

Since the beginning of the trial on Oct. 15, Cole’s loved ones have arrived in support of the 36-year-old victim who lost his life early in the morning of June 22, 2017.

Williams, who was swiftly arrested by police that night after Cole’s body was found in front of his Locust Street home, was found guilty of three felonies including first degree murder and two charges of aggravated assault. Williams also was found guilty of obstructing the law and tampering with evidence after cleaning the knife that he had used to stab Cole and lied to the police about the killing, fabricating a story about another man who had been at his house to buy drugs.

William J. Miele, chief public defender, began the last day of the trial with his closing arguments. Miele explained to the jury that they would be faced with three decisions by the end of the day. They could either decide that Williams had committed first or third degree murder, that he had killed Cole in self defense or that he was guilty of voluntary manslaughter because he had been in the heat of passion or had defended himself unreasonably granted the situation.

The defense argued that testimony Williams had given last week was true and that Cole had arrived at his home, uninvited and with a cocktail

of drugs in his system, with the intent of raping him.

Williams could be justified in the killing and be found not-guilty, according to Miele, if the jury found that Cole’s entry into his home counted as forced entry and that Williams was acting to protect himself.

“A middle-of-the-night visit from someone he knew, someone he called a friend, is not your classic force or break in,” Miele said. “But I submit to you that when you put it under the circumstances of this case, that it is force.”

During his own closing statements, Martin Wade, first assistant district attorney, said the relationship between Williams and Cole was more than just a friendship and on the night that Cole visited Williams in his home, Williams had not been defending himself.

“Williams’ testimony was shabby at best,” Wade said. “There is no evidence that he was ever at risk of physical harm.”

Wade added that he believed Williams to be guilty of first degree murder because of the nature of the relationship. Throughout the trial, prosecution painted a picture of a man who was trying to hide his romantic relationship with another man. According to Wade, if Williams and Cole were dating, Cole touching Williams in his sleep would not warrant self defense.

“You can’t stab your boyfriend because he touches you,” Wade said. ” You can’t kill him because he refused to leave.”

Miele argued that text messages between the two men were of a one-sided relationship. Williams said during his testimony he was trying to distance himself from Cole, who sent over 500 total text messages and phone calls to the defendant over a month.

“Cole was smitten and far more invested,” Miele said.

Wade however, pointed out numerous fights Williams had with Cole where Williams could have cut off the relationship.

“Rashawn had like 15 chances to walk away,” Wade said. “No straight man talks to a gay man to this extent unless they are romantically involved.”

On the night Williams was arrested, he cleaned some of the blood in his home along with the knife used to kill Cole. When he was arrested, Williams told police that he had invited Cole to his home to facilitate a drug deal with a friend and that the friend committed the crime, not him. Defense said he lied to police because of a distrust he has for law enforcement and not because he killed Cole. Wade argued that someone who defended themselves from a rape would have no reason to lie.

“If there’s an innocent explanation, it should be said the first time,” Wade said. “If someone tried to forcible rape him in his own home the fact that he didn’t tell the police tells you it didn’t happen. It doesn’t take time to think up the truth.”

On the first day of the trial, Wade called to the stand Travis McCarty, a neighbor who claimed he heard a man yell “He’s killing me,” before seeing a man stand over another man in the street.

Miele questioned the authenticity of McCarty’s testimony, saying he gave another story to police. According to Williams’ telling of the attack, he stabbed Cole out of fear of being raped — something that was supported by Psychologist Scott Scotilla, who told the jury he diagnosed Williams with PTSD from sexual violence he had in his childhood.

In Williams’ retelling, he said after he attacked Cole, they both come to rest at the front of his porch where Cole then tried to walk across the street and collapsed on the ground. McCarty’s testimony, according to Wade, said Williams continued back over to the body, where he continued to stab the victim. Blood pooling in multiple areas around where Cole died helped to prove Wade’s point.

“There was one victim. Just one,” Wade said. “Defense has tried to case Cole as the aggressor.”

After the verdict, Wade said he was surprised by the outpouring of support there was for Cole.

“I was impressed by the level of support Cole had in the community,” he said. “More than anything I’m just happy the parents have some relief for their heartache. Absolutely it was the right verdict.”

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