Phyllis Williams demanded to look into the eyes of the man convicted of murdering her son six years ago as she directly asked him to reveal who else was involved in the fatal shooting.
“I am a grieving mother who lost my only son, who was a wonderful son and father and not someone who was just on the street,” Williams said Monday during the sentencing of Letresse Tareke Williams.
Following a weeklong trial in December, Letresse Williams, 35, of New Kensington, was convicted of second-degree murder in the Jan. 14, 2020, shooting death of 33-year-old Anthone Williams of Arnold. The two men are not related.
Judge Scott Mears formally ordered Letresse Williams to serve life in prison without the possibility of parole.
A mother’s plea
Prosecutors said Letresse Williams and an unidentified co-conspirator, who was never charged, gunned down Anthone Williams during a robbery involving a drug dealer in a secluded New Kensington parking lot.
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 found about 100 yards away from the shooting scene. Letresse Williams’ DNA was found on the inside of the barrel of the weapon, according to evidence presented during the trial.
Phyllis Williams pleaded with her son’s killer to identify his accomplice.
“Don’t let them win. Don’t be their scapegoat,” she said. “Be a man. Take your punishment like a man and make everyone else take their punishment, too.”
Letresse Williams maintained his innocence throughout three trials over the last two years. Two previous trials ended in mistrials when jurors could not reach a verdict. In his first trial in 2024, he was acquitted of first-degree murder.
He did not speak during Monday’s hearing. He previously testified he had sold his gun and lent his phone to a colleague, denying any involvement in the robbery.
‘He wasn’t treated like a victim’
Anthone Williams’ family told the judge the portrayal of the victim as a drug dealer was not the man they knew.
“No matter what happened, my dad didn’t deserve that,” said his son, ViAndre Williams.
His sister, Felicia Williams, said her brother was a dedicated father whose death left a hole in the family. She expressed frustration with how the legal process unfolded.
“Throughout these six years, my brother wasn’t treated like a victim; he was treated as if he was on trial,” she said.
In imposing the mandatory life sentence plus a concurrent 9½ to 20 years for illegal gun possession, Mears acknowledged the conflicting depictions of the victim.
“My hope when I sentence someone like Anthone Williams is that they reform, that they can turn things around. Anthone Williams will never get a chance to do that,” Mears said.
Additional crimes
Letresse Williams also pleaded guilty Monday to reduced charges related to a Dec. 1, 2019, drive-by shooting in New Kensington. Police said he used the same gun later used to kill Anthone Williams to fire at four people near a parked car. No one was injured.
Assistant District Attorney Leo Ciaramitaro said prosecutors dismissed charges of attempted murder and aggravated assault to facilitate a plea deal in that case.
In a third unrelated case, Williams pleaded guilty to theft of a gun and illegal possession of a firearm. Judge Christopher Feliciani sentenced him to 5 to 10 years and 6 to 12 years in those cases, respectively, to run concurrently with his life sentence.