By Victoria Lembesis
SACRAMENTO – Defendant Marcellus Williams was just about to get a bench warrant issued against him and his bail forfeited after a Sacramento County Superior Court judge noted that he had failed to appear for his court hearing.
Williams was, in fact, present in the court but had dozed off.
It took a few moments to wake Williams in the courtroom, and Judge Michael A. Savage asked the defendant multiple times if he was experiencing some sort of medical issue.
According to Deputy District Attorney Amanda Sanchez, Williams was a part of a robbery on June 30, 2019, when he and an accomplices stole a box of fireworks at a stand in a parking lot.
The victim attempted to reach her hand into the fleeing vehicle to retrieve the box as they began to drive away, and was dragged by the vehicle and run over, suffering horrific injuries.
Her injuries included needing a plate and four screws in her right shoulder, two plates and 12 screws in her left shoulder, fractures to her femur, tibia, and fibula, broken nose, several knocked-out teeth, and the need for a rotator cuff replacement.
Based on the investigation, law enforcement tracked the defendant to the vehicle, and a witness alleges the defendant was bragging about participating in the robbery a few months later.
The defendant holds a lengthy criminal history which includes a juvenile strike from a 2007 robbery and a 2012 felony domestic violence charge—where he is said to have punched his girlfriend in the face, taken her cell phone, cracked her windshield, and threatened to kill her family if she called the police. A witness called the police because they said they had heard a woman being beaten by a man.
His most recent run-in with the law was a 16-month conviction from 2014 for possession of a firearm—Williams was stopped in a vehicle where a loaded firearm was found.
After hearing Williams’ history of charges, private defense attorney David Garland complained that the DA provided the court with facts that the defense was hearing for the first time.
The matter will return for a bail hearing and further proceedings on Aug. 25 at 8:30 a.m. in Department 62.
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