FL - Ryan Rogers, 14, fatally stabbed, Palm Beach Gardens, 16 Nov 2021 *Arrest*

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https://www.wptv.com/news/local-new...uate-if-semmie-williams-jr-fit-to-stand-trial

Feb 28, 2022

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The defense team was dealt a defeat Monday in the case of Semmie Williams Jr., the homeless drifter accused of stabbing a Palm Beach Gardens teenager to death.

Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge Kirk Volker ruled to temporarily transfer the case to the mental health court, where Williams, 39, can be evaluated by two experts. It will be up to those experts to determine if Williams will be competent enough to stand trial.

[..]

Aronberg's office recently chose not to prosecute Williams stemming from his scuffle with a sheriff's deputy while he was being booked on the murder charge.

[..]

Monday's decision to send Williams' case to the mental health court comes after his public defender filed a motion to keep the proceedings to determine Williams' competency in the same court, which will preside over the capital trial, as first reported by Contact 5.

The motion claimed Williams "appears unable to testify relevantly" or "meaningfully participate" in "defending a case in which the state is seeking the death penalty."

The court filing also mentioned Williams' history of mental illness and its role in a previous criminal case, saying he suffered from schizophrenia.
 
15th Judicial Circuit of Florida

Started in 2009, this effective collaboration between Court Administration, the State Attorney's Office, the Public Defender's Office, and contracted Expert Witnesses, has allowed for felony competency cases to be transferred into a specialty division where cases are resolved in about half the time as cases processed through traditional methods. Once the defendant is found competent, the case returns to the original division.

Felony cases where there is an issue of competency to proceed, may be transferred into the Division via a written motion for appointment of experts and a proposed Order Temporarily Reassigning Case to the Mental Health Specialty Division. The motion and proposed order should be presented to the Divisional Judge. If the Judge enters the Order, a copy must be forwarded to the Mental Health Case Manager, Paulina Pasquarelli, at ppasquarelli@pbcgov.org. The case will be set in the Mental Health Specialty Division, Division T, at the Criminal Justice Complex on Gun Club Road.
________________

ETA: IMO, the defense will not have the benefit of an extended delay per my earlier comment after the Court ordered SLW case temporarily transferred to mental health court.

This is the first case that I've experienced a state mental health court. o_O
 
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At only 38, SLW is a young man with a criminal record that likely exceeds what has been reported beginning at age 21. Had he been sentenced to 20 years as recommended by the prosecution for the aggravated assault with strangulation instead of being released after serving only 3 years with the promise to reside with his mother in Florida (mother changed her mind), he would not have had the opportunity to attack a child riding his bicycle.

Just as his victim in GA stated that SLW didn't seek to rob him or want money, SLW attacked Ryan simply for the satisfaction of causing him injury or death.

To be clear, SLW has never been deemed incompetent by the Court. This means after evaluation by court-appointed experts, it was determined SLW was capable to distinguish between right and wrong and act accordingly. And I have no doubt that his current court will find the same.

Upon release, SLW was also provided a mental health probation officer. I don't think SLW is a victim of broken mental healthcare, and there's a reason the state is seeking the death penalty here. MOO

The victim added, "He beat me profusely. And I said, 'What do you want? Money?' He said, 'No.' He knows my kind and is going to finish me. He beat me on the head." [..]

According to court documents, “the sentence was for the count of aggravated assault was five years to serve three years commuted to time served with two years on probation. And the second charge battery against a person who's 65 years of age or older was 12 months’ probation.”

Documents show Williams was supposed to be put on a bus to his mom's home in Florida since he had no previous felony convictions, but his mom later decided she was unwilling to take him back.

Instead, transcripts from the proceeding show he was provided with a mental health probation officer in Georgia.

Ryan
 
Seattle1 said:
View attachment 335889


To be clear, SLW has never been deemed incompetent by the Court. This means after evaluation by court-appointed experts, it was determined SLW was capable to distinguish between right and wrong and act accordingly. And I have no doubt that his current court will find the same.

Upon release, SLW was also provided a mental health probation officer. I don't think SLW is a victim of broken mental healthcare, and there's a reason the state is seeking the death penalty here. MOO

The victim added, "He beat me profusely. And I said, 'What do you want? Money?' He said, 'No.' He knows my kind and is going to finish me. He beat me on the head." [..]
Click to expand...

Have you not seen this guy's YouTube videos?? Massive amount of YouTube videos of him walking around detailing how every person he sees is following him, stalking him, trying to kill him? That's mental illness.
 
kelsie said:
Have you not seen this guy's YouTube videos?? Massive amount of YouTube videos of him walking around detailing how every person he sees is following him, stalking him, trying to kill him? That's mental illness.
Click to expand...

Really? The legal standard used by the Court to determine both competency and criminal insanity is not to be confused with an individual's personal YT account.

The accused has previously been evaluated by qualified professionals in several jurisdictions, deemed competent, just as he's currently being evaluated by mental health professionals serving the 15 Judicial District's Mental Health Court.

Respectfully, there are some pretty kookie things on all social media platforms and that doesn't make the authors of the content mentally ill. Only qualified professionals that have personally examined the party can make that determination.
 
kelsie said:
Have you not seen this guy's YouTube videos?? Massive amount of YouTube videos of him walking around detailing how every person he sees is following him, stalking him, trying to kill him? That's mental illness.
Click to expand...

YouTube videos don't mean much since most people are putting on a show anyway and even if what he's putting out there is authentic, you're not incompetent to stand trial just by virtue of having a mental illness. There are a lot of mentally ill individuals awaiting trial or being tried as we speak.
 
Psychologists say Ryan Rogers murder suspect competent to stand trial

4/6/22

Two psychologists have found Semmie Williams competent to stand trial [...]

When Pribble asked that two mental health experts be appointed to examine Williams, he voiced confidence that his client would be found incompetent to stand trial.

“Because of his severe mental illness, he appears unable to testify relevantly, to disclose to counsel facts pertinent to the proceedings at issue, or to otherwise meaningfully participate in and aid counsel,” Pribble wrote in early February.

Noting that prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty, Pribble said it was critical to determine if Williams was capable of participating in his defense.

At the time, Williams was being housed in the mental health unit of the county jail and was receiving psychiatric treatment, he said.

Pribble, who unsuccessfully sought a gag order to prohibit anyone involved from talking about the case, has declined comment, as have state prosecutors.

[..]
 
MissUnderstood said:
Is providing better mental healthcare more expensive than innocent lives being lost and the cost of the courts and jails to house the people that commit these crimes!!!! Something is very broken! Moo
Click to expand...

Something is "very broken" when children are not safe riding a bike in their neighborhood.

The perpetrator has a long criminal history of violence against others. Prisons have replaced mental institutions.
cbs12.com

I Team: Semmie Williams criminal history

The CBS 12 News I Team is digging deeper into the criminal history of the man Palm Beach Gardens Police say killed 14-year-old Ryan Rogers. Semmie Lee Williams Jr. , 39, is a drifter. Records show he has moved around a lot and his life has been chaotic and violent. Police released some of what...
cbs12.com cbs12.com
 
JerseyGirl said:
www.wptv.com

Semmie Williams competent to stand trial in killing of Palm Beach Gardens teenager Ryan Rogers, judge says

A Palm Beach County judge ruled that a homeless drifter accused of killing a Palm Beach Gardens teenager last year is competent to stand trial.
www.wptv.com www.wptv.com

A status hearing in the case is scheduled for June 21 in West Palm Beach.
Click to expand...

Thank you @JerseyGirl for a new MSM link for this case. Given the gag order, we've had little to go on.

From the link dated 6/8/2022, the following status and hearing were confirmed:

Judge Charles E. Burton issued an eight-page ruling Tuesday that Semmie Williams Jr. can be tried in the death of Ryan Rogers, a 14-year-old William T. Dwyer Community High School freshman.

"It is evident to the Court that the Defendant has a strategic disagreement with his attorneys about how to present the case to the jury," Burton said in the ruling. "That, in and of itself, does not make him incompetent to proceed."

[..]

The judge did acknowledge that Williams suffers from a "long-standing mental illness."

"However, the Defendant is medication compliant and his symptoms have improved dramatically since the day of his arrest according to the doctors," the judge said.

[..]

The ruling comes after a four-hour hearing on May 27 where the court heard from three doctors who had interviewed Williams over the last few months.

[..]

Prosecutors said in January they will seek the death penalty if Williams is convicted.

A status hearing in the case is scheduled for June 21 in West Palm Beach.
_____________________

Judge Charles E. Burton's eight-page ruling is available at the wptv.com Newslink.

Ultimately, as provided in my last post, SW's defense requested the Court order SW evaluated by two state-appointed psychologists. In April, after examining the defendant, both doctors agreed that SW was competent to stand trial for the charges filed against him.

In response, the defense hired another doctor to evaluate the accused and their doctor disagreed that SW was competent.

After a four-hour hearing on May 27 where the three doctors provided testimony to the court, Judge Burton ruled that SW is competent to proceed.
 
SW is only 39 years old but since age 21 (probably longer since juvenile records excluded), he's had an extensive record of violently attacking others, and not to rob them of money or valuables, but for the satisfaction of causing them injury or death.

A drifter, SW has had not less than a dozen criminal charges against him across three states.

And to be clear, although it's evident that SW has suffered from mental issues since probably age 21, and continues to suffer, he has never been found incompetent to proceed to trial for any of his crimes in any court.

More specifically, in the murder case before him, SW is reportedly in disagreement with his defense team after they hired a third doctor in the hope to negate the opinion of his two prior examiners that found him competent when SW does NOT want to be deemed incompetent!

On the contrary, even after being convicted of violent felonies, SW's been more than competent to prepare intelligent and cohesive arguments to plead guilty to lesser charges, early release, refuse to get dressed for court or convince the prosecution not to proceed to trial. IMO, he demonstrates more traits of manipulative, sociopathic behavior than he does psychosis.

We also know that SW has also had the benefit of mental health probation in Florida for more than 12 years but medication cannot be forced-- especially when many choose street drugs as their drug of choice. And when a Georgia Judge presiding over SW's case released SW early, to his mother's house in Florida with the warning he was never to return to GA, one or the other changed their mind about SW living under his mother's roof.

IMO, I believe the only victim here is a boy of 14, Ryan Rogers, who is guilty only of riding his bike in the path of SW. MOO

cbs12.com

I Team: Semmie Williams criminal history

The CBS 12 News I Team is digging deeper into the criminal history of the man Palm Beach Gardens Police say killed 14-year-old Ryan Rogers. Semmie Lee Williams Jr. , 39, is a drifter. Records show he has moved around a lot and his life has been chaotic and violent. Police released some of what...
cbs12.com cbs12.com
 
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What's the delay in getting this case to trial? Motion & status hearings are canceled consistently!

www.oxygen.com

Judge Finds Homeless Man With History Of Delusions Competent For Trial In Teen Boy's Murder | Oxygen Official Site

A judge has ruled that the Florida drifter accused of murdering a 14-year-boy who disappeared during a bicycle ride is competent to stand trial. Semmie Lee Williams, 39, stands accused of fatally stabbing high school freshman Ryan Rogers, whose body was found near the I-95 overpass in Palm Beach...
www.oxygen.com www.oxygen.com

June 10, 2022

According to court records reviewed by Oxygen.com, Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge Charles Burton agreed with two court-appointed psychologists who independently determined that Williams was mentally fit to stand trial last March.

Tuesday’s ruling comes after much resistance from Williams’ public defenders, who previously argued that their defendant has “long-standing and persistent mental illness,” including a diagnosis of schizophrenia.

[..]

“Certainly, the court was able to observe his demeanor during the court proceedings and notes that his demeanor was appropriate at all times,” said [Judge] Burton.

[..]

“There is no doubt that the defendant suffers from a long-standing mental illness. This trial is a long way off, and who knows what the future holds,” Judge Burton wrote in his ruling. “However, the defendant is medication compliant and his symptoms have improved dramatically since the day of his arrest, according to his doctors.”

[..]
 
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