3rd trial results in guilty verdicts for New Kensington man charged with 2020 slaying

Felicia Williams and her family said justice was finally served after a Westmoreland County jury convicted a New Kensington man in the fatal shooting of her brother nearly six years ago.

After three days of testimony and two hours of deliberations Wednesday, jurors found Letresse Tareke Williams guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, robbery and the illegal possession of a firearm in connection to the Jan. 15, 2020, killing of 33-year-old Anthone Williams in New Kensington.

Prosecutors said Letresse Williams, 35, was one of two men who gunned down their victim during a botched robbery.

The trial was the third time prosecutors sought to convict Letresse Williams. The first attempt in June 2024 ended after 14 hours of deliberations when jurors acquitted him of first-degree murder but failed to reach a verdict on the remaining counts. Last August, another jury again failed to reach verdicts following 10 hours of deliberations.

Letresse Williams is not related to Anthone Williams, who lived in Arnold.

Anthone Williams’ family on Wednesday said they were relieved the third trial ended in guilty verdicts.

“My brother was a son, brother, uncle and father of five kids and who was an amazing dad,” Felicia Williams said. “He was not the man they portrayed him to be. (The verdict) is somewhat a relief, but this is not over. There were so many people involved. This is just a start.”

Prosecutors contended Letresse Williams and another, unidentified man plotted and executed a robbery of their intended victim, who they believed carried a large sum of cash and drugs, when they set up a meeting in an empty parking lot outside of an unoccupied housing authority complex in New Kensington.

Anthone Williams was found slumped over in the driver’s seat of his vehicle with three gunshot wounds. A cellphone linked to Letresse Williams was discovered wedged between the seats of the vehicle. Investigators said his DNA was found on a SIM card in the device.

The suspected murder weapon was located about 100 yards away from the shooting scene. Letresse Williams’ DNA was found on the inside of the barrel of the weapon, prosecutors said.

“The one person who delivered the fatal shot was this defendant, and this defendant left his tools of the trade behind,” Assistant District Attorney Leo Ciaramitaro said during his closing argument to the jury.

Letresse Williams was the lone defense witness to testify in the trial. He maintained his innocence and attempted to put blame on a friend to whom, he said, he had previously sold his gun and rented out his phone to allow him to facilitate drug deals.

Ciaramitaro told jurors to dismiss that testimony.

“To believe the defendant, you have to believe this is the worst coincidence on the face of the earth. This is an insane argument,” Ciaramitaro said.

Prosecutors said evidence was clear there was a plot to rob Anthone Williams. Witnesses testified discussions and planning of the robbery occurred days before the killing and that Letresse Williams later confessed the crime to his then girlfriend after he directed her to report his cellphone as lost or stolen.

Defense attorney Jaclyn Shaw in her closing argument questioned the DNA results that linked Letresse Williams to the killing and suggested prosecutors could not prove a robbery had been committed. Shaw said thousands of dollars worth of drugs and $40 in cash was found in Anthone Williams’ pocket after his death.

Shaw called the prosecution’s case “smoke and mirrors.”

“The defendant has been consistent. He said he didn’t do it,” Shaw said.

As a result of the second-degree murder conviction, Letresse Williams faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Scott Mears said he will conduct a formal sentencing hearing in about three months.

Williams also faces trial in an unrelated case in which he is charged with multiple counts of attempted murder in connection to an incident in New Kensington a month before the fatal shooting of Anthone Williams. In that case, prosecutors contend Letresse Williams fired four shots at four people outside of a parked vehicle in New Kensington on Dec. 1, 2019.

Prosecutors claim the weapon used in the attempted murder case was the same one used to kill Anthone Williams.

A trial date for that case has not been scheduled.