Tamera Williams, Williamson County Sheriff’s Department mugshot
WILLIAMSON CO., Ill.—A Williamson County judge has ordered that the woman accused of murdering a Johnston City woman last fall is unfit to stand trial.
The matter had been postponed twice by the court, while authorities waited on a psych evaluation from Dr Kluge. Today, Judge Philip Palmer determined that with treatment, Williams may be able to stand trial within a year.
Williams has been remanded to the Department of Human Services for inpatient treatment, and a status hearing has been scheduled in forty- five days.
In the meantime, the current issue (April-May 2014) has an inside look at the situation, told from a standpoint few bother with, especially when a murder takes place. As with any crime, the immediate focus these days—in the era of newspapers feeling compelled to publish “a charge is merely an accusation” despite common sense dictating that OF COURSE that’s what it is, that’s why it’s called a “charge”—is for authorities to get only the barest of facts to the public, and the media to follow along blithely.
However, there is no murder—or crime, for that matter—that’s cookie cutter. Law enforcement and the courts know that, but often they don’t want the citizens who pay their paychecks to know it…and so they discourage media from going behind the scenes.
But when the family of the accused takes the time to talk to the media, sometimes, the public’s viewpoint of an entire case can get turned up on its ear.
Such is the situation with the charges 30-year-old Tamara Williams is facing in Williamson County. At her most recent court appearance, her mother, Meshaun Williams, took time out to tell our correspondent her views on her daughter’s behavior, warning signs…and how those in positions of authority in various Williamson County settings, in her view, screwed up in the months leading up to the death of Barbara Beers of Johnston City. Here now is the midday Read the Lead, Mother of accused murderer: If local police had done their job, we wouldn’t be here today:
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WILLIAMSON CO.—Meshaun Williams, mother of accused murderer Tamara Williams, states that if Johnston City Police would have done their job, “we wouldn’t be here today.”
Her comments came on the afternoon of Tamara Williams’ most recent court appearance, April 7, as Williams continues to be held on four Class M counts of Murder in the November 15, 2013 stabbing death of Barbara Beers of Johnston City.
The body of Beers, 66, was found on McInturf Lane about six miles south of Marion, not far from both I-57 and Highway 37.
Williams, 30, was apprehended in Rutherford County, Tennessee later that same day (Nov. 15), driving Beers’ car.
Multiple court hearings have been held since that time, each of them ending in a continuation as authorities are trying to ascertain just what Williams’ mental capacity is…and whether she’s even fit to stand trial.
Williams’ mother said Tamara has a history of mental problems and had been institutionalized at least three times in the past. Tamara was being seen by the H-Group in Marion, and doctors had her on medication that was not supposed to be stopped abruptly. Meshaun Williams said the medication was causing hallucinations for her daughter, and she apparently stopped taking it.
“And when she goes off the meds…
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