Closing arguments today in Darrent Williams murder trial

Willie Clark

The 12-member jury of the Darrent Williams murder trial is expected to begin deliberations Wednesday, nearly two weeks into presentations of over three years of evidence.

The suspect, Willie Clark, opted not to testify in his own defense Monday. The prosecution has called two rebuttal witnesses today, at least one of whom decided to testify after initially refusing and being imprisoned for contempt.

Closing arguments are expected this afternoon.

Several witnesses have testified, often overcoming fear for their own lives and the lives of their loved ones, that they had seen or heard Clark admit shooting at Williams’ stretch Hummer limousine that night. As this Denver Daily News article details (note: the article is dated Wednesday, March 10th; our guess is the editor didn’t intend to publish this story until then), one such witness, Julian, is expected to testify today that Clark admitted to the shooting several times.

Julian (last name withheld out of respect to his safety concerns), a close personal friend of Clark, said he had numerous text messages and voice mails from Clark from around the time of the shooting.

“He said, ‘We dumped on some fools last night,’” Julian told the jury, referring to one of the voice mail messages he said he received from Clark.

“And when he said that to you, what did you think that meant?” asked prosecutor Tim Twining.

“That he shot somebody or shot at somebody,” the witness said.

Julian refused to testify when he was called into court on March 4 because Habas would not grant his request that the media not publish his name. He was sent to the Denver County Jail on contempt charges but was released the next day on the condition that he would give his testimony. Habas has told counsel of both sides that she’s had to perform a “very, very narrow balancing act” between the safety of witnesses and granting Clark a fair trial.

“Do you have concerns about testifying?” Twining asked in his direct examination.

“A lot of concerns,” Julian replied.

“What are those concerns?” she asked.

“The safety of my children, my mother, my ex-wife and my son,” he said.

Julian also told the jury that he overheard a conversation between Clark and Daniel “PT” Harris, who was allegedly in the car with Clark during the shooting, about getting rid of the gun. The witness also told Clark that he needed to burn the evidence.

“I told him he needed to get rid of it,” Julian said. “I told him that he needed to burn it.”

Judging by multiple reports throughout the week (and we want to thank the folks at the Denver Post and Associated Press for doing a great job covering the trial), Julian isn’t the only one to present such testimony. Our guess is we’re hours away from knowing that Willie Clark’s living quarters will forever boast concrete walls, iron bars, and a toilet a few feet from his bed.