After deliberating 16 hours over four days, a jury convicted a man Oct. 18 of second-degree murder in the slaying of Horace Vernon Williams of National City in a lethal “road rage” case.
Rickey Smith, 60, of San Diego, faces a sentence of 15 years to life in prison plus one year for the use of a knife, said Deputy District Attorney Makenzie Harvey.
Chula Vista Superior Court Judge Garry Haehnle set sentencing for Dec. 11. Smith, who was already in jail since the Nov. 27, 2018, incident on $2 million bail, had the bail changed to no bail after the verdict.
Williams, 36, was a father of five girls, and his family members and friends as well as the family and friends of Smith attended the trial since it began Oct. 3.
Harvey showed jurors pictures of the seven stab wounds that Williams received including two to the heart in her closing argument, saying that is what murder “looks like.”
Both Smith and Williams had some traffic mishaps that morning and they ended up with Smith bumping into Williams’ Nissan Quest minivan on the Willow Street Bridge in Chula Vista which is near a golf course. Williams had thrown a soft drink at Smith’s car and the stabbing occurred when Smith got out of his car on the bridge after punches were exchanged while Williams was seated.
“One day at a time is all I can really do right now,” said Sasha Martinez, the fiancee of Williams, who is taking care of the daughters, afterwards.
“He’s still not here. For me, justice would be if he(Williams) was still here,” said Martinez in an interview with KGTV (Channel 10). “I’m not going to get him again.”
“I take it one day at a time with (her daughters) and try to honor him, doing things with them that he would still do with them, to keep him alive around us,” said Martinez.
“I get to close this part of my life, and try to move forward and have some peace and be with my daughters,” said Martinez. “They’ll never going to be alone because we have such a big family and so much support.”
“Each one of them represents him, and he will always live on even though he’s not here,” said Martinez about her daughters in the interview.
The jury acquitted Smith of first-degree murder, one of the verdicts suggested by Harvey in her closing argument on Oct. 15. Jurors did not request any witness testimony to be re-read to them during deliberations.
Attorney Brian Watkins, who represents Smith, argued for acquittal, saying it was a case of self-defense. Watkins said Smith called 911 after the incident “to save his life.” Watkins said Williams displayed an obscene gesture during the traffic dispute.
Watkins also mentioned voluntary and involuntary manslaughter as possible verdicts, but his main thrust was acquittal based on self-defense.
