After less than even one full day of deliberations, a jury in the Washtenaw County Trial Court returned with a guilty verdict on all four counts. 32-year-old Willie Wimberly was found guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, witness intimidation and felony firearm.
This was Wimberly’s second trial for these charges. The first one last May was not the decisive success the prosecution had hoped for. During the first trial, one of Wimberly’s co-defendants, 23-year-old Terrence Parker, was acquitted of murder. This despite the testimony from an eyewitness that he was the one who pulled the trigger.
But with regard to Wimberly, he was found guilty at that time of two charges, namely one count of carrying a concealed weapon and being a felon in possession of a weapon, for which he was sentenced to 40 months to seven-and-a-half years in prison. However, the jury was hung on the remaining four charges.
Wimberly allegedly murdered a material witness
The six felony charges were the result of Wimberly’s having allegedly murdered a material witness in connection with another, completely unrelated trial; a witness who was scheduled to provide testimony against Wimberly the very next day.
Wimberly was initially charged with murder in a road rage related shooting in Wayne County, and was on trial for that crime in January of 2013, when he apparently decided to remove one of the prosecution’s key witnesses.
Evidence and testimony suggested that Wimberly sent three young men – Terrance Parker, his brother Avantis Parker, and Lawrence Mathews- to kill 28-year-old Brandon Charles. Charles, a resident of Ypsilanti Township, was found shot several times, once in the heart.
With regard to Wimberly’s co-defendants in this most recent case, Terrence Parker was acquitted at the time of the first trial, despite damning testimony from his brother, Avantis, who identified Terrence as Charles’ shooter. Avantis Parker pled guilty to second-degree murder and is currently serving time in prison.
Mathews, whose trial took place at the same time as Wimberly’s but not with the same jury, was still waiting to hear his verdict.