Jury: Man guilty of murder in Lexington apartment shooting. Girlfriend helped him flee
Jurors on Thursday convicted a Michigan man of murder — rejecting his self-defense claims — in a killing at a Lexington apartment complex.
David Williams, 34, was found guilty of shooting 22-year-old Quatrell Kimble to death in 2019 and other crimes. The shooting happened in July in a stairwell at the Coolavin Apartments on West Sixth Street. Williams didn’t deny he killed Kimble, but he said he did so in self-defense. Williams said in court that Kimble had a gun and threatened him.
“We appreciate the jury’s verdict,” Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Daniel Laren told the Herald-Leader after the trial. “... We hope that Quatrell Kimble and his family get some sort of resolution out of all this.”
“I don’t feel like I was in the wrong. I feel like my life was on the line,” Williams, a father of five, told jurors in the subsequent sentencing portion of his trial.
“I hate it happened,” Williams said. “I’ve thought about it every day. Ain’t nothing I can do to bring him back. If I could, I would.”
While Kimble was at the top of the steps, Williams fired from the bottom of the steps and shot Kimble multiple times, according to court statements. Emergency responders found Kimble lying on the steps and tried to perform CPR before he was taken to a hospital.
Williams fled the shooting scene with his girlfriend, Tyreshe Monique Webb, who was also found guilty Thursday of hindering apprehension and improperly displaying plates. Williams was arrested when the two wound up back near the scene a while later, according to court records.
In closing arguments Thursday morning, prosecutors argued in court that Williams couldn’t claim self-defense because he didn’t know Kimble had a gun.
“He didn’t know it was there,” Laren said in court. “Nobody knew that gun was there until Quatrell’s body was at UK Medical Center.”
Kimble’s gun was loaded, according to court statements. It had one round in the chamber. Laren said that indicated Kimble hadn’t shot at Williams.
Laren also argued that Williams had more than two years since the homicide to come up with a self-defense story and Williams should’ve been more forthcoming if the shooting was in self-defense.
“All Williams said is ‘I don’t know nothing about nothing’” when police first questioned him after the shooting, Laren said.
Laren told jurors that Williams lied to police about his real name and his date of birth. He also said Williams was vague about where he lived and told investigators he’d never been arrested.
“Turns out he’s a felon, so maybe he didn’t want the police to know that,” Laren said.
Laren also argued that Williams’ accuracy when firing at Kimble from a distance was a sign of Williams’ intent to kill Kimble. Williams fired four shots at Kimble from about 14 feet away and hit Kimble with all four shots. The shots hit Kimble in the heart, lungs and pelvis.
Williams’ defense attorney, Daniel Whitley, unsuccessfully argued that the prosecutors hadn’t proven their case. It was “crazy” to think Williams was wrong to defend himself, Whitley said.
Whitley said prosecutors were “wanting to make it seem like this young man just pulled a gun and shot someone for no reason.”
Prosecutors had called an eyewitness to the stand who said they saw Williams shoot Kimble.
“I believe in my heart and will always believe that David was innocent,” Whitley told the Herald-Leader after the verdict was delivered. “He was forced to defend himself and he did. Unfortunately I think jurors have a certain position on guns and gun rights and a lot of people believe that you have to wait for a person to pull out a gun and point it at your face before you can defend yourself.”
Whitley added “you have to respect the jury’s system.”
‘High-level dealer.’ About $12,000 in drugs found in car
In addition to murder, Williams was convicted of trafficking and evidence tampering.
Jurors recommended that Williams receive a 35-year prison sentence – 25 years for murder and 10 years for drug trafficking. They also recommended a one-year sentence for evidence tampering, but suggested that it run concurrent with his other prison time.
Webb was convicted after prosecutors pointed out to jurors she drove Williams away from the apartments in a borrowed car. They went to Fayette Mall and bought clothes at Macy’s before returning to the area where the shooting happened, according to statements made in court.
The jury recommended that Webb receive a one-year prison sentence. Both defendants were scheduled for a final sentencing hearing in January.
Webb’s attorney, Robin Renee Slater, argued in court that Webb didn’t hinder Williams’ arrest because she ultimately brought him back.
“Giving someone a ride is not hindering prosecution,” she said. “ ... If anything, she assisted the police by bringing him back.”
Laren said, “Ms. Webb absolutely knew that the police were looking for Williams.”
Whitley argued that Williams and Webb returning to the scene was an indication Williams didn’t think he had done anything wrong. He said the couple would’ve taken off and fled the area otherwise.
After they returned, police found about $12,000 worth of a heroin/fentanyl mix in the back seat of the borrowed car Williams and Webb fled in, according to court statements. A smaller amount of a suspected heroin/fentanyl mix was also found in Williams’ pocket.
Whitley argued there was no proof the $12,000 worth of drugs belonged to Williams because it wasn’t his car. It could’ve been left there by someone else, he said. Whitley also questioned why the bag containing the $12,000 worth of drugs wasn’t tested for DNA evidence to help determine who owned it.
Williams could’ve been convicted of aggravated trafficking, a higher-level offense which requires prosecutors to prove a certain amount of drugs was being trafficked. Jurors instead chose to convict him of a lesser trafficking offense.
Laren told jurors that people don’t leave such a large value of drugs lying around. He also said Williams had more than $2,000 in cash on him when he was arrested, some of which was in large bills. Laren said that’s indicative of a “high-level dealer.”
“Maybe this was a business dispute,” Laren said to jurors, referring to the fact that Kimble also had drugs on him at the time of his death. “Maybe it’s a disagreement over territory. Maybe they just don’t like each other. ... He is a drug dealer. He committed a murder.”
This story was originally published November 4, 2021 at 1:14 PM.