Williams sobbed at the courtroom podium as she listened to her mother and Slaven’s mother tell Butler County Common Pleas Judge Patricia Oney about her past.
Sheila Robinson, her mother, said Williams attended Fairfield High School, was a cheerleader and worked at McDonald’s before getting mixed up with the wrong people who supplied her with heroin.
“She made some awful mistakes when she started running around with people she didn’t know,” Robinson said.
Tamera Slaven, Julian’s mother, talked about the friendship Williams shared with her son when they were in middle school. She mentioned Julian even once bought Williams a ring.
“You knew my son,” Tamera Slaven said as she stared at Williams. “You trampled on his heart when he was 14 … but he forgave you.”
She said Williams was the one who contacted Julian on Nov. 24 “with the sole purpose of robbing him.”
“I wish I could tattoo my son’s picture on you, so you will never every forget what you did,” Tamera Slaven said.
Williams’ attorney, Ched Peck, said his client admitted her guilt and has taken responsibility for her actions.
“At the time of the commission of this offense, she was shooting heroin three times a day,” Peck said.
Williams took deep breaths between each sentence and choked on tears as she offered an apology.
“I want to say I am sorry,” Williams said. She added if Tamera Slaven wants to visit her, “I will give her all the answers that she wants. I am sorry she doesn’t feel safe in her home anymore.”
Robinson and family friends who knew Williams before her drug use said the teen wants to warn others of the dangers of heroin.
“She never would have done this if she had not been on drugs,” Robinson said.
Last month Joseph Goodin, 26, of Middletown, who fired the shot that killed Slaven was sentenced to 21 years to life in prison.
Goodin’s attorney, Kyle Rapier, said the fatal shooting was an accident.
Goodin and Williams are two of three defendants who pleaded guilty in the incident.
Anthony Givens, 21, of Hamilton, pleaded guilty in April and was sentenced to 18 years to life.
A trial for Jerry Eacholes, 26, of Middletown, and Christia Frymire, 19, of Fairfield, is scheduled for July 23.
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