People v. Williams

Defendant appeals from a judgment entered on a jury verdict convicting him of first degree murder.

On the afternoon of October 14, 1968, the deceased body of Edward Monaghan was discovered in the bedroom of his house trailer in Union City. He had last been seen alive by a neighbor at about midnight of the previous evening. His body was found with a necktie wrapped tightly around his neck, with electrical cords “about his neck and chest area,” and with abrasions and lacerations on his head. The cause of death was asphyxiation due to strangulation.

Several items were discovered inside the trailer, including a film projector, several reels of movie film, a holster for a long-barreled revolver, and at least three hand vibrators or massagers. Bloodstains appeared on carpeting near the body, on a bedroom wall, on a bathroom sink, and on pieces of broken glass from a bathroom mirror.

Appellant first met Monaghan, whose nickname was Mike, at the beginning of summer 1968 and thereafter began selling pornographic films supplied to him by Monaghan. Appellant had met Lloyd Kolpack in April of the same year; Kolpack had accompanied appellant to Monaghan’s trailer on at least two…