The charge was murder, not aggravated murder

By Sean Wolfe
For the Gazette-Times

ALBANY — After a weekend to think on it and 2½ days of deliberation, the jury in the murder trial of Larry Williams reached a verdict late Monday afternoon: Guilty of murder, not of aggravated murder.

Prosecutors were seeking a charge of aggravated murder in the shooting death of Michele Hawkins, a Lebanon-area horse trainer. That charge carries with it the penalty of life in prison without possibility of parole.

The jury found Williams not guilty of that charge in a majority decision. Judge Rick McCormick asked whether it was at least a 10-2 majority, and the jury foreman said it was.

On the charge of murder, the jury unanimously found Williams guilty. That charge carries a minimum 25-year sentence, which means Williams, 52, could be released when he is 77.

Williams, who turned himself in at the Lebanon Police Department following the shooting last October, has never denied that he shot Hawkins. His lawyers have argued that the shooting was not premeditated, but that he did it during an "extreme emotional disturbance."

The jury was not convinced and did not opt for reducing the murder charge to manslaughter.

Sentencing was to have been scheduled according to the next available opportunity on the court's calendar, but Williams' defense requested it be carried out soon because Williams' stepmother and daughter have been staying in town. Judge McCormick then scheduled the sentencing hearing for 9 a.m. Wednesday.

Deputies for the Linn County Sheriff's Office unshackled Williams for the reading of the verdict.

Flanked by his attorneys, Gerald Petersen and Peter Fahy of Corvallis, Williams wore an impassive expression while the verdict was read. Following the reading he was again chained up and led out of the courtroom to the van waiting to take him back to Linn County Jail.

During the reading of the verdict, Williams' stepmother, Peggy Williams, and his daughter, Anette Williams Boulware, a student at Chico State University in California, clutched each other closely. Neither wished to offer comment after the verdict.

Dean Hawkins, the victim's husband, also didn't wish to comment. Since Thursday, he has been supported by family friends, who sat with him until the trial's end.