Sports

Feb. 22 trial set in slaying of Broncos’ Williams

admin Contributor
Font Size:

DENVER (AP) — The trial of the man accused of killing Denver Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams is on track to begin next month with at least one former teammate scheduled to testify.

The judge in the case said during a hearing Friday that Javon Walker, now with the Oakland Raiders, has been subpoenaed to testify against Willie D. Clark.

Clark is charged with first-degree murder in the New Year’s Day 2007 drive-by shooting death of Williams, who was riding in a rented limousine after leaving a Denver nightclub. An indictment says Williams and Clark had been at the club with separate groups that exchanged taunts.

Williams died inside the limousine in Walker’s arms. During an interview months later on HBO’s “Real Sports,” Walker said then-teammate Brandon Marshall and his cousin exchanged angry words with two men who confronted Williams and his group after taking offense when Marshall sprayed them with champagne. It was unclear whether Marshall would be called to testify.

Clark has said he wasn’t involved in the shooting.

Dressed in bright red jail clothes, Clark leaned over to his defense attorneys and grimaced at District Judge Christina Habas as she ruled on several technical matters.

“I know you may not agree with everything I’m doing, but please, don’t react,” Habas sternly told Clark.

Despite restrictions on communicating with people in custody, two Clark supporters audibly kissed their hands and blew in Clark’s direction as they left the courtroom. State court administrator Rob McCallum did not immediately know if those two, a young man and woman, face any sanctions.

Clark is a suspected gang member known as “Little Let Loose” and “Lil Willie.” He and two others face murder charges in the shooting death of Kalonniann Clark in Denver in December 2006. She was killed the day before she was to testify in an unrelated drug case.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Timothy Twining has said that many witnesses are fearful for their lives and asked to be allowed to testify in private in Habas’ chambers.

Instead, Habas imposed strict security measures, including screenings with metal detectors at the courthouse entrance and outside the courtroom. She banned any communication from inside the courtroom, which means no cell phones, texting or using the Internet, partly to keep the movements of witnesses secret.

Cameras are also banned from the entire fourth floor of the courthouse.

Habas will allow a sketch artist in the courtroom but with several restrictions, including an explicit prohibition on drawing the face of star prosecution witness Daniel Harris, who once faced federal drug charges that carried up to life in prison.

According to testimony in court, Harris is now in the witness protection program.

Twining said Harris’ inability to testify against Clark would “jeopardize this case.”

Habas also banned any sports team logos, jerseys, pins or jewelry, including any Super Bowl championship rings that may be worn by Broncos players or staff.

“I’m trying very hard to not make this a circus,” Habas said.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel