GEORGE WILBUR - Baby (2010) Convicted: Mother-Delniece Williams - Harper Woods/ Detroit MI

A 22-year-old Harper Woods woman was convicted of first-degree, felony
murder by a Macomb County jury that deliberated less than three hours in
the circumstantial case in the death of her baby son.
Delniece Williams screamed obscenities at the jury and her attorney
and had to be calmed down by family members after she was found guilty
by a jury Monday morning following a three-day trial in circuit court
for the child abuse death of George Wilbur. She faces an automatic
penalty of life in prison without parole at her June 19 sentencing by
Judge James Biernat Jr.


Williams’ mother, Dorothy Gordon, one of several family members who
attended the trial, said she was disappointed the jury didn’t take more
time to mull the case.


“There was a lot of information that wasn’t reviewed that should have
been reviewed,” she said. “She’s innocent. They didn’t take the time
required to go over all of the information. I think they should have
pondered a little longer.”





Assistant Macomb prosecutor William Cataldo said the jury determined that Williams lied to police.


“I spoke to the jury and it was clear to them that her statements
weren’t truthful,” Cataldo said. “They recognized that she was telling
too many stories.


Williams was accused of inflicting severe injuries on the boy, who died
from blunt force trauma to the head from two head blows, and suffered
eight cracked ribs, lacerated liver and collapsed lung. He also showed
signs of prior abuse.


The case was circumstantial as Williams was with her son in the nine
hours in her occasional boyfriend’s Warren home before he was taken to a
hospital at 4:30 p.m. Oct. 11, 2010.


The jury also could consider second-degree murder and manslaughter.


Williams gave several inconsistent statements to police but in her last
interview admitted that she threw George onto a mattress, and he fell on
the floor. But medical experts said more severe actions would have
caused the fatal injuries.

Williams’ brother contradicted her testimony by testifying he saw George
outside the home while Williams told police George stayed his room all
day.


Cataldo argued to jurors the injuries were consistent with George being
thrown against a wall. He noted that Williams abused her other son, a
2-year-old, twice within a few days of the fatal abuse. One time she
grabbed him by the neck and threw him, and a second time she beat him
with a shoe.


The defense argued that someone else in the home inflicted the abuse,
pointing out that several other adults, including Williams’ boyfriend,
Aaron Matchett, were there all day.


“I think Mr. Aaron Matchett did it,” Gordon said. “He was in the room the majority of the time.”


Williams’ 2-year-old also was seen having physical contact with George,
but experts said he could not have inflicted the most serious injuries.


Williams did not take the stand in her defense.


“We didn’t think we needed to put her on the stand because it was circumstantial evidence,” said her attorney, Andrea Fanning.


Fanning said she believes the case could have issues on appeal but declined to discuss them.


“It’s not over,” Gordon said.
She said her daughter previously was never in trouble with the law and was attending Baker College.

The incident was one of nine cases of significant child abuse or
murder of a child in Macomb County within a span of less than two years.
Macomb prosecutors have gained convictions in seven of the seven cases
to day, with two scheduled for June.





http://www.dailytribune.com/article/20120521/NEWS01/120529939/harper-woods-woman-convicted-of-murder-her-baby-son-s-death