BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Monitor Editor
STARKE— A Bradford County jury convicted a 28-year-old Starke man for arranging the murder of a 19-year-old in 2020.
Demetrius Dewayne Wilson was found guilty of manslaughter and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder for the July 10, 2020, death of 19-year-old Blake Reed Williams.
Prosecutors said Williams was shot on Old Lawtey Road around 9:28 p.m.
In February, a jury convicted Gainesville resident Marcus Tereual Whitfield, 33, of second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder for the killing. Prosecutors said Whitfield was the triggerman in the slaying.
Prosecutors said Wilson offered Whitfield $10,000 to kill Williams, because Wilson believed the 19-year-old had stolen a large amount of cash from Wilson.
He loved his mother, took care of his nephew and sold drugs
Assistant State Attorney Luis Bustamante told jurors during closing arguments that his case showed why a 19-year-old man was shot dead and left on a Starke sidewalk.
“What do we know about Blake Williams?” Bustamante asked jurors. “We know that he loved his mother and liked her cooking. We know that he took care of his nephew.”
“We know he lived off (Old Lawtey Road), about a 10-minute walk from the Delta Store,” the prosecutor continued. “We know that he had a routine: that he would try to make it to the Delta Store before closing time…We know that he did not like to wear a shirt. We know that he did not have a car, and if he had to go out of town, he used a rental car that was provided by his sister or a friend.”
“We also know he was a drug dealer. Something that is sad,” Bustamante added. “We know there were drugs found on him including marijuana and some crack cocaine.”
Bustamante also said that evidence showed during the two-day trial that a series of text messages occurred between the victim and defendant from June 8 to June 29 and those messages were all drug related.
“We know that after June 29 there is nothing,” he added. “No more text messages between Mr. Wilson and Blake Williams. Why?”
The prosecutor than provided his own answer to the question.
“We know that there was a break-in, and somebody stole money from Mr. Wilson’s place off Thomas Street,” he said. “We know that (Wilson) knew about it, because that’s what he told (Starke Police) Lt. Rooney. We know money was stolen and that he suspected Mr. Williams to be the culprit.”
A dead chicken and a handful of beads
Bustamante ended his closing argument by replaying a video from the Delta Food Store in which the defendant’s white Audi is seen driving up to the store’s gas pumps minutes before the murder and remained parked, with Wilson inside for one minute and 42 seconds.
Earlier in the trial, Marcus Whitfield’s aunt testified that he was always on drugs, and as law enforcement closed in on him resorted to carrying around a dead chicken and a handful of beads as Voodoo-inspired protection against getting arrested.
Bustamante implied that Wilson parked his Audi 200 feet away from the scene of the murder to oversee a hit that was to be carried out by a chronically high amateur henchman whose dependability was questionable.
The assistant state attorney noted that after the prolonged wait in the Audi, Wilson walked inside the convenience store.
“Did he get out of the car at that time because the murder had already happened?” the prosecutor asked. “Possibly, but why was he in that car for a minute and 42 seconds, give or take a couple of seconds. Inside a car, doing absolutely what? Texting? Or making sure that the job was done by a guy who’s on drugs and who is not reliable. Why would he be there at the time of the murder?”
Never looked at anybody else
In his closing statement, Wilson’s lawyer: Michael Ruppert told jurors that the lead investigator for the crime: Starke Police Lt. Michael Rooney presided over an investigation that focused on Whitfield and Wilson, whose street name is Pete, early and never considered other possibilities.
“Oh my God, Marcus and Pete killed my boy,” Ruppert told jurors. “Blake’s mother made that statement to Officer Rooney. At that point forward, Officer Rooney had tunnel vision. The only two suspects were in fact Marcus and Demetrius. Never looked at anybody else.”
Earlier in the trial, Ruppert spent over an hour cross-examining Rooney, trying to poke holes in his methodology and criticizing him for failing to obtain the defendant’s phone number, not obtaining a cell phone tower dump, and neglecting to order DNA analysis on a cigarette butt found near the victim.
However, the investigator held his ground, explaining to the jury why he made each decision while developing the case, and justifying why he did or did not utilize each investigative tool.
Ruppert also noted what he said were inconsistences in the testimony of the state’s witnesses. He also criticized police for failing to investigate Marcus Owens, the 22-year-old police found near the victim when they arrived on scene. Ruppert said Owens had a black eye, but police failed to find out why.
The defense lawyer also asked why the state presented no evidence about the last hour-and-a-half of the victim’s life.
“For an hour-and-a-half, we don’t know what Blake was doing and where he was,” Ruppert said. “We do know he had cocaine in his pocket and marijuana in his hand. Did he make someone mad?”
Jurors could have convicted Wilson of being a principal to second-degree murder but instead found him guilty on the lesser charge of manslaughter.
After the verdict Circuit Judge James Colaw sentenced Wilson to 45 years in prison.
