WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Semmie Williams Jr. took the stand on Wednesday, following a day of testimony heavily focused on surveillance video evidence.
Williams faces a first-degree murder charge in the death of 14-year-old Ryan Rogers, who was riding his bike near his home in Palm Beach Gardens in November 2021 when police said he was randomly attacked and stabbed to death by Williams, who had no ties to the community or the teen.
The state's first witness Wednesday was Colleen Machado, a senior crime analyst with the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department. Machado testified about cell phone data extracted from Ryan Rogers' phone the night on Nov. 15, 2021, showing the teen's movements before the attack. The jury also saw surveillance footage of Rogers on his bike at various locations that night.
She testified about an extraction report on Williams' phone, done by Miami police. The jury was shown YouTube videos posted by Williams on Nov. 15, 2021, starting in the early morning hours at a Miami Metrorail station and then moving north into Boynton Beach and then Mangonia Park. After seeing several videos of Williams walking in Palm Beach Gardens the night of the attack, cell phone data then showed him going back down south towards Miami the morning of Nov. 16, 2021.
In one video from the Miami train station, Williams says "as I travel today" that there will be "gang stalking" and that there will be "a lot of activity, maybe even some violence." In a video from Boynton Beach, he says law enforcement is following him.
Williams took the stand to testify Wednesday afternoon, after the judge made sure several times that he understood the consequences of doing so. He said he did.
He offered his definition of "gang stalking," saying the goal is to harass a "targeted individual" and use electronic weapons on them.
He says he's been targeted since childhood, and that he began posting YouTube videos in an effort to document the alleged harassment, which he says comes from law enforcement, doctors, government officials and others. He claimed he has chips implanted in his body.
Williams' testimony was cut short and it will resume tomorrow. After the jury was sent home for the day, Williams became combative with the judge and asked once again to fire his lawyers, claiming the jury is "fixed."
Before the jury was brought in Tuesday, Williams asked to address the judge, saying he needed to be moved from his current cell because he has a "sensitivity to electromagnetic frequencies" that are coming from the guard's station. He brought up that issue again Wednesday, saying that being in jail has made him sick and he wants to be moved from his cell.
The trial is expected to end on Jan. 22.
