Williams to plead guilty: reports

Williams to plead guilty: reports
Posted By QMI Agency
April 29th, 2010


QMI Agency

A final and dramatic chapter may be writing itself in the case of disgraced Canadian military officer, Col. Russell Williams.

The website for The Globe and Mail reported Thursday that the former base commander at CFB Trenton plans to plead guilty to murder, sexual assault and 82 burglary related charges.

It would be an astonishing conclusion — and unusual legal end — to a case that's stunned military ranks and captivated the nation. Though everything about the arrest and troubled incarceration of the once respected commander has been anything but normal or expected.

The latest report of a possible pending guilty plea came hours after Williams made a video appearance here to face the new break-in charges.

Citing two unnamed sources, the national newspaper said prosecutors and defence lawyers for the accused killer have agreed in principal that Williams will plead guilty to all charges.

Williams faces two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Cpl. Marie-France Comeau, 37, a military flight attendant from Brighton, Ont., and Jessica Lloyd, 27, of Belleville, Ont.

The body of Jessica Lloyd of Belleville was found on Feb. 7 after she was reported missing two weeks earlier, launching a massive search.

Cpl. Marie-France Comeau of Brighton, Ont., was discovered dead in her home last November. She was a flight attendant at CFB Trenton and served aboard the same military VIP flights Williams piloted for much of the 1990s.

Williams' fall from those days are something out of a movie script.

On Thursday, appearing via a video feed, he appeared clean shaven with his trademark buzz cut looking newly trimmed. He looked nothing like a man who recently attempted a hunger strike after his suicide bid was foiled by guards at the Quinte Detention Centre in Napanee, Ont., where he has been since his arrest in February.

Williams seemed at ease as he stated his name "David Russell Williams" — leaving out the colonel designation.

He was remanded until his next court appearance on June 24.

The 82 charges, laid just before Williams attended his court appearance, were not read aloud in court. And there was no outward hint of any guilty plea arrangement having been reached.

It was all, in the life of the courts, rather normal.

The 61 counts of break and enter, 11 counts of attempted break and enter, and 10 counts of break and enter with intent to commit an indictable offence relate to a string of burglaries in Ottawa, Belleville and mostly in Tweed,Ont.

Many of the homes in Tweed listed were on the street, Cosy Cove Lane, where Williams lived when he served as base commander at CFB Trenton a 30-minute drive away.

The homes in Ottawa are in the city's Fallingbrook neighborhood. Williams and his wife shared a home in west Ottawa.

Ottawa police, Belleville police and Ontario Provincial Police, with the help of Canadian Forces National Investigation Service, conducted an extensive review of unsolved crimes in the three areas before laying the new charges, the OPP said.

Sgt. Kristine Rae of the OPP said she could not expand on the "intent to commit an indictable offence" charges noting there are a number of things under the Criminal Code that are considered an indictable offence.

Due to the fact the investigation is ongoing, she said she could not reveal what those offences are.

Following Williams' arrest in February, police searched his homes in Tweed and Ottawa.

According to police documents, detectives searched the home of a previous suspect in the cases eventually linked to Williams, looking for baby blankets, lingerie and other items reportedly taken from the crime scenes.

- with files from Jason Miller, QMI Agency
Article ID# 2556918