ST. CHARLES, Mo. -- A St. Charles County jury that convicted a 53-year-old man of murdering a pop singer Tuesday began to determine whether to sentence him to death for that crime and the murder of his first wife.
James Williams, 53, of St. Charles County, was convicted Monday night of two counts of capital murder hours after he testified in his own defense.
One of the murder counts stemmed from the death of Walter Scott, who sang on the 1960s hit, 'The Cheater,' with Bob Kuban and the In-Men. Scott, whose real name was Walter Notheis Jr., continued his career as a pop singer in the St. Louis area until his disappearance in December 1983.
The jury also found Williams guilty of killing his first wife, Sharon Williams, in October 1983. Authorities initially ruled her death was the result of an automobile accident but prosecutors charged James Williams staged the wreck to cover up the murder.
Prosecutors asked jurors Tuesday to sentence Williams to death for both murders. The jury's only alternative would be to return sentences of life in prison without parole.
Investigators exhumed the body of Sharon Williams in 1987. Medical examiners testified they had reclassified her death as a homicide. Sharon Williams died from a blow to the back of the head, testimony showed.
Prosecutors told the jury that James Williams also soaked his wife with gasoline while staging the apparent accident to cover up the murder. Witnesses testified that he gave permission for his brain-dead wife's life-support equipment to be disconnected several days after she was found fatally injured.
Following Scott's disappearance, Williams moved into the missing entertainer's home, and Scott's wife soon obtained a divorce from him. Joanne Notheis and James Williams were married in April 1986.
About a year later, Scott's body was found in a cistern behind the couple's home. The singer had been bound and shot in the back, medical examiners testified.
James and Joann Williams were charged with murder in Scott's death, and James Williams also was charged with killing his first wife. Legal wranglings caused long delays in the case but James Williams finally went on trial last week. Joann Williams is scheduled to go on trial next February on a charge of capital murder.
