COLUMBUS — The same day a prosecutor announced he was ready for trial in the case against one of two suspects charged in the rape and strangling of a 5-year-old, the defendant pleaded not guilty “by mental disease or defect.”
The next step in the case against Jeremy Tremaine Williams is a psychological evaluation conducted by the state of Alabama, where Williams was arraigned Tuesday in Russell County Circuit Court.
Kamarie Holland was found slain Dec. 13 in a vacant house. Williams was captured later that night.
Defense attorney Charles Floyd entered two pleas on Williams’ behalf, one not guilty and the other not guilty because of his mental state, meaning Williams at the time of the homicide was “unable to appreciate the nature and quality or wrongfulness of his acts,” according to the law.
Were a jury to accept that defense, it would not set Williams free, said Russell County Chief Assistant District Attorney Rick Chancey: Williams would be sent to an institution for the criminally insane.
Floyd said after Tuesday’s hearing that he was unsure when Williams would be evaluated, as the state has a backlog of such requests. Circuit Court Judge David Johnson said he would put the case on a trial docket for Aug. 19, adding, “Obviously it won’t be ready for trial.”
Chancey told the court also that he wants to join Williams’ two counts related to sex trafficking with the matching case against Kamarie’s mother, Kristy Siple, who’s accused of trafficking her daughter to Williams for a so-far undisclosed amount of cash.
Floyd objected to that, and Johnson told the attorneys he would rule on it after they filed written motions.
After the hearing, Chancey told reporters he’s willing to try the capital murder case ahead of others already pending, if that proves feasible. He previously said the county has about two years’ worth of capital murder cases still awaiting trial because of delays caused by COVID-19 restrictions.
Williams faces the following charges: capital murder of a victim younger than 14; capital murder in the course of kidnapping; capital murder while raping a victim younger than 12; capital murder while committing sodomy; producing child pornography, by recording himself assaulting Kamarie; abusing a corpse under those same circumstances; first-degree sex trafficking involving a victim under 18; and conspiring with Siple to commit human trafficking.
Siple, 35, also known as Kristy Hoskins, waived her arraignment, Chancey said. Besides sex trafficking, she faces three counts of felony murder based on rape, sodomy and first-degree kidnapping. Chancey is not seeking the death penalty in her case. If convicted, she faces life in prison.
Siple reported her daughter missing from her Bowman Street home in Columbus on Dec. 13, the same day authorities searching for the missing girl found her slain in a vacant house Williams once occupied on 15th Avenue in Phenix City.
They arrested Siple on Dec. 28, after further investigation revealed she had trafficked her daughter to Williams in exchange for money, according to Russell County Sheriff Heath Taylor.
Judge Johnson has issued a gag order that prohibits authorities from disclosing details of the ongoing investigation, though attorneys are free to comment on court procedure.
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