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Review panel working on report without ex-detective's testimony
It could take months to get Williams to testify, mayor says
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Published: December 20, 2008
It could take months to compel Don Williams, a former detective with the Winston-Salem Police Department, to testify to the Winston-Salem City Council about his work on the Silk Plant Forest case, Mayor Allen Joines said yesterday.
That is according to the city attorney's office, which is expected to ask a judge to order Williams to obey a subpoena from the city council and answer questions prepared by the citizens review committee investigating the case, Joines said.
Williams ignored a subpoena to testify at a Wednesday meeting about the case.
"It could be six months easy, and as much as nine to 12," Joines said, citing court scheduling and the possibility that any decision would be appealed.
In part because of the possibility of that delay, the city council voted Wednesday to ask the review committee to finish a report within 90 days.
The council said it planned to release a written statement within a few days explaining its decision in detail. Joines said he expects the statement to be done by Monday, before the review committee meets at 5:30 in the Stuart Municipal Building.
"We greatly appreciate the hard work they've done, and we know they've collected a large amount of information," he said of the committee members. "We're anxious to get their recommendations based on what they have so far."
Joines and Mayor Pro Tem Vivian Burke are writing a letter to tell the committee about the 90-day deadline and to tell it to just focus on whether police procedures were followed and whether changes are needed at the police department.
That's a change from how the committee had interpreted its mission. Chairman Guy Blynn said at a recent meeting that the panel's mission was broader than a police review and included comprehensive fact-finding.
The review committee will also have to sort out how it might finish a report without Williams and add to it if he later testifies. It could adjourn after its report and reconvene once the subpoena issue is sorted out, Joines said.
Williams was the lead investigator in the case involving the beating of Jill Marker, who was attacked in 1995 at the Silk Plant Forest, a store off Silas Creek Parkway. The attack has left her with permanent brain damage and needing 24-hour care.
Kalvin Michael Smith, who was convicted for the crime in 1997, has said he is innocent, and a hearing on his request for a new trial has been set for Jan. 5.
■ Dan Galindo can be reached at 727-7377 or at dgalindo@wsjournal.com.
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