A local woman who fired a handgun from her car during an argument with her landlords in 2015 was convicted on felony charges Thursday and sentenced to 10 years in prison after a two-day trial in Garland County Circuit Court.
Cecily Ann Williams, 28, who has remained in custody since her last arrest May 23, 2017, for failing to appear for a pretrial hearing, was found guilty of aggravated assault and second-degree unlawful discharge of a firearm from a vehicle while the four-man, eight-woman jury found her not guilty of an additional charge of theft by receiving of a firearm.
The jury had deliberated for about 30 minutes on Wednesday before finding her guilty of the two counts shortly before 5 p.m. The trial resumed Thursday for sentencing and the jury deliberated for about an hour and a half before recommending a sentence of 10 years on the more serious unlawful discharge count and three years on the assault count, to run concurrently.
Deputy Prosecutor Trent Daniels, who represented the state along with Deputy Prosecutor Shana Alexander, said it was harder to prove the theft charge because the handgun had belonged to Williams' girlfriend's mother.
He said the mother had testified about the theft of her gun and the fact her daughter didn't have permission to take it, but it was difficult to show Williams knew the gun was stolen at the time of the incident.
According to the probable cause affidavit, on Nov. 18, 2015, around 2:45 p.m., Hot Springs police were dispatched to the 100 block of Greenway Street in reference to a known suspect, identified as Williams, who had fired numerous shots in the area after arguing with her landlords.
Police had obtained a description of a suspect vehicle involved and made a traffic stop at Central Avenue and Court Street and detained the driver, identified as Williams, and a male passenger.
Detective Kenny May spoke to the passenger, who stated he was present when Williams fired approximately five shots from a handgun on Greenway and that the gun was still in the car. He said Williams had argued with her landlords, a married couple, and shot the gun sometime during the argument.
Officers searched the vehicle and found two guns, a .380-caliber handgun and a 9-mm pistol, behind the driver's seat. A computer check showed the .380 handgun had been reported stolen on Oct. 26, 2015.
May spoke to the landlords, who stated they had gone to the apartment they owned to perform maintenance work. Their tenant, identified as Williams, was there and became upset and demanded her rental deposit back, which they told her they would mail to her.
The husband said Williams got more upset and began attacking him and his wife. After a brief struggle, Williams got back into her vehicle, drove around the block and then returned. He said Williams pulled up in the driveway where he was standing, pointed a handgun at him and said, "What do you think about this?"
He said he put his hands up and began running. As he was running away, he said he heard five shots fired. May spoke to the man's wife, who gave a similar statement about the incident, except she said she only heard the shots and didn't see Williams shooting. Officers located four spent .380 shell casings in the 100 block of Greenway.
Williams was arrested that day and released on $5,000 bail on Dec. 3, 2015. She pleaded not guilty to the charges on Feb. 1, 2016, and then reportedly failed to appear for a pretrial hearing on Feb. 6, 2017. A bench warrant was issued and she was arrested again on May 23, 2017, and held on zero bond.
Local on 01/19/2018