Daily Times

After a spellbinding five-day trial that featured tales of infidelity, a multimillion dollar insurance payout and family dysfunction, a jury on Friday convicted a Florida woman of helping mastermind the killing of her husband nearly two decades ago.

Jurors convicted Denise Williams of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder for her role in case that has recalled the plot of the Hollywood film classic “Double Indemnity.” The 48-year-old Williams was found guilty after testimony by a key witness in the case, the man who shot her husband Mike Williams on a cold December morning on a large lake west of Tallahassee. During closing statements, Assistant State Attorney Jon Fuchs described Denise Williams as “stone faced” and asserted she had coldly cashed in on her husband’s demise by collecting proceeds from $1.75 million worth of life insurance policies. Fuchs said the woman had managed to keep the killing a secret for years until the man she was having an affair with — and later married — divulged the details.

Ethan Way, an attorney for Williams, said his client was innocent and that there was no tangible proof that Denise Williams helped plan the slaying of Mike Williams. Instead he maintained that Brian Winchester, who testified in court that he lured Mike Williams on a duck hunting trip in order to kill him, was lying about Denise Williams in order to avoid murder charges.

Published in Daily Times, December 16^th2018.