BUNNELL — Yolonda Williams lay on the road by her driveway in Bunnell in the body camera video shown to jurors July 21. Numerous crimson wounds marked the spots where her husband plunged an 8-inch knife into her back and other areas of her body.
“I can’t breathe,” Williams repeated about a half-dozen times. “I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe.”
Her husband-turned-killer, Jermaine Williams Sr., sat at the defense table at the Kim C. Hammond Justice Center in Bunnell, looking up at the video monitor closest to him.
Jermaine Williams Sr., 54, was convicted of first-degree murder July 17. The jury took about 20 minutes to reach its verdict.
Jermaine Williams Sr. stabbed his 50-year-old wife outside their home at 408 S. Pine St. in Bunnell about 8:14 a.m. Aug. 2, 2024, according to court records. The couple had argued earlier that day.
Penalty phase underway in Bunnell first-degree murder conviction
The jury returned to the courtroom July 21 to begin the penalty phase of the trial at the end of which they will recommend either that Jermaine Williams Sr. be sentenced to death or spend the rest of his life in prison.
If the jury recommends death, then Jermaine Williams Sr. won’t be sentenced for at least a couple of months. He will attend what is called a “Spencer hearing” which is a chance to argue one more time why he should be spared the death penalty.
If the jury recommends death, Judge Dawn Nichols is required to give the recommendation “great weight,” but she could still sentence him to life.
The day began with the defense saying that Williams Sr. did not want to get dressed in court attire. He wanted to wear his orange-and-white striped jail jumpsuit. The judge spoke with him, and Williams maintained he wanted to wear his jail jumpsuit, so he did.
Yolonda Williams knew of ‘impending death’
Assistant State Attorneys Jason Lewis and Helen Schwartz prosecuted the case. Schwartz listed for the jury the aggravators that she said supported the death penalty. She said Jermaine Williams Sr. was on felony probation for a prior incident of domestic abuse when he murdered his wife. Schwartz said the murder was cold, calculated and premeditated, and heinous, atrocious and cruel.
Schwartz drew the jurors attention to the pain that Yolonda Williams suffered due to the numerous stab wounds.
“She knew of her impending death,” Schwartz said.
She played the body camera video of Yolonda Williams repeating that she could not breathe as law enforcement tried to stop the bleeding.
Bunnell Police and the Volusia Sheriff’s Office both responded to the stabbing.
Paramedic: She said she was going to die
Once paramedics arrived, Yolonda Williams was placed in an ambulance.
Flagler County Fire Rescue Firefighter Paramedic Lt. Jason Feldman testified that Yolonda Williams said repeatedly that she was going to die.
She also repeated that she could not breathe.
“‘It is getting harder to breathe,'” Feldman quoted Yolonda Williams as saying.
Feldman said shortly after, she became unresponsive.
Her heart started to slow down and her pulse declined at 8:35 a.m. He tried to keep her awake. Yolonda Williams became unresponsive just before 8:40 a.m., he said.
Prosecutors also called Yolonda Williams’ son to testify about a prior domestic violence incident. The son said he was 11 years old at the time in 2022 when his father ordered him out of his room. Then as the son watched, Jermaine Williams Sr. repeatedly slapped his mother and called her names.
The son said his father was angry that he had sung at a funeral, and he also thought his mother was having an affair.
The son said after he went back to his room he heard his mother crying. He also said his father pulled his mother’s hair.
Yolonda Williams’ family members testified about the heartache of having her taken from their lives. They recalled how she would write a rap song to celebrate their birthdays tailored to that particular person. She would host a Halloween party every year.
Defense: Begins argument why Jermaine Williams Sr. should be spared
Defense attorneys Junior Barrett and Anthony Eric Leonard began their case for why Jermaine Williams Sr. should be spared from the death penalty. They said Jermaine Williams Sr.’s mother had died about six months before the murder. They said Jermaine Williams Sr. had endured corporal punishment as a child. And they said two of his brothers had died.
They called one brother, Duriel Williams, who testified that there were eight bothers, and they were subjected to “discipline” when they misbehaved by their father who would use a belt or leather. He said if one of them misbehaved and didn’t admit it, the father would beat all eight of the siblings until one admitted to the transgression.
They called a forensic neuropsychologist, Jacquelyn Olander, who testified via Zoom. She described the killing as a rage murder, due to all the stab wounds.
She said that Jermaine Williams Sr. has a narcissistic and antisocial personality.
She said that Jermaine Williams Sr. felt that he only had his sense of self left. She said he was trying to do all he could to preserve the marriage, but Yolonda Williams was becoming more independent.
Olander said she felt the murder was committed while Jermaine Williams Sr. was under “extreme mental or emotional disturbance,” which is listed as a mitigator in Florida law.
Schwartz asked Olander if she was saying that the only way Jermaine Williams Sr. could stop his feeling of loss of power and control was by stabbing his wife.
“He was preserving his sense of self as a man,” Olander said. “That was the underlying basis of his elimination of a person who was devastating his sense of self. That was the last thing he had to preserve.”
Schwartz repeated the question.
Olander responded: “The only way to preserve his sense of self as a man, the king of his family, and maintain his sense of identity.”
The trial continues July 22.
— Frank Fernandez covers courts and criminal justice in Volusia and Flagler counties for The Daytona Beach News-Journal.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Prosecutor: Bunnell woman stabbed by husband knew she would die
Reporting by Frank Fernandez, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
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By Frank Fernandez, Daytona Beach News-Journal | USA TODAY Network
