The verdict of the jury came only two days following the trial’s closing testimony, Ebony Strange, offered a story of witnessing her husband Deron Strange shot dead at the entrance to the 225 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. at night on May 27 20th, 2020. The defendant was identified by the victim, Brandon Williams, as the murderer – exactly as she did moments after the shooting , when she described him as “short little Brandon” when the first White Plains police officer arrived at the scene.
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“Never once did she equivocate. She named him as the shooter within seconds,” Assistant District Attorney Marissa Mora-Wynn stated in her closing argument Wednesday. “There was no time to fabricate. No time for reflection. She was not mistaken.”
Ebony Strange told her she knew Williams who lived in the building next to it, prior to his birth and had witnessed him the entire evening, arguing against her husband despite the fact that the motive behind the argument was never explained during the trial.
She stated that Williams was on scooters just prior to the shooting. After hearing an ominous “boom” she looked up to see a smoke puff and then saw Williams run after her husband through cars and then fire four times before the husband collapsed to the floor and Williams ran away.
They had 5 sons, who ranged between the ages of six and 19. A few of them had gone to the windows of their second floor apartment when they heard gunshots.
Their father, who was severely wounded, was transported by ambulance to White Plains Hospital a block away, and he passed away shortly after sunrise the following day.
Mora-Wynn as well as assistant district attorney Laura Murphy built their case not just based on the testimony of the wife but as well on GPS information that placed Williams her cell phone in the area of the shooting.
Just two days after the shooting incident, the police were able to trace Williams’s phone to the Hyatt hotel located in Harrison the city in which he was staying together with his friend. They arrested him after they found him leaving the hotel.
Williams has denied involvement of the shooter. He initially claimed to be another person, but later admitted that he was recognized as being the one who shot. Defense attorney Angelo MacDonald said in his closing argument that Williams was not planning to hide in the area, and the reservation was established prior to the shooting.
MacDonald claimed there were contradictory versions of the clothes that the suspect was dressed in with Ebony Strange reporting that he wore yellow pants as well as a third-floor resident who viewed the incident from her window , thinking it was a yellow shirt. Video footage showed Williams had on yellow trousers, but a different video from the area the night before also showed a man who was not identified wearing an orange shirt.
In addition to arguing that there was a lot of reason to doubt who was actually responsible for the shooting, MacDonald also made an argument for a conviction of manslaughter to avoid the possibility of a life sentence. He claimed the severity of the wounds, as well as internal bleeding due to a rare perforated arterial vein, indicated that the shooter was not planned to kill.
However, Mora-Wynn argued that nobody fires multiple times on someone and does not try to take them down.
Williams is 28, and has a sentence that is a minimum of 15 years in prison to the end of his life and a maximum sentence of 25 years of life. He was taken back in jail in the Westchester County jail to await the sentence and hearing, which the judge George Fufidio scheduled for Dec.5.
