America Phylicia Williams

La Plata, MD – She didn’t know her boyfriend had a gun.

That’s what America Phylicia Williams, 23 of Cheltenham, told Charles County Circuit Court Judge Helen I. Harrington Monday, June 27 at her sentencing in La Plata.
Williams allegedly drove her boyfriend to Waldorf from Prince George’s County Sept. 3, 2015 to a family function.

“There was a family dispute,” Charles County Assistant State’s Attorney John Stackhouse told the court. “The defendant and her boyfriend chased a vehicle through Waldorf. The victim’s vehicle went into a cul de sac. Mr. Curry—the defendant’s boyfriend—produced a firearm and shot twice at the vehicle. He did not hit the vehicle but put two bullets in the garage of a house in the neighborhood.

“There is no indication the defendant knew he had brought that gun with him,” Stackhouse added, noting Williams cooperated with Det. John Elliott of the Charles County Sheriff’s Office during the investigation.

“It was a dispute at a family function that spiraled way out of control,” he said. “It turned out, the [people in the] vehicle they were following were not even the individuals involved in the fight.”

Williams’ attorney, William Brennan, pled the case down to a conspiracy charge, even though he asserted—as did the prosecutor—that his client had no knowledge of a gun.

“She didn’t know he had a weapon,” Brennan stated.

He read from character statements supporting Williams, saying his client had just graduated from Virginia Union College and had a baby just two weeks ago.

“This is a young woman with a promising future,” he said. “She had extremely limited involvement in the events of last September.”

Williams apologized to the families and said she took full responsibility for her actions.

“I am prepared to face the consequences of my actions,” she said.

“Everything is pointing at one bad decision,” Harrington told the defendant. “How well do you know Mr. Curry if you didn’t know he had a gun? How does that affect your newborn child? How does that fit with your life?

“I don’t know him, but you do,” the judge said.

She then sentenced Williams to five years, suspending all but eight days, giving her credit for eight days she was confined at the Charles County Detention Center. She also placed the defendant on three years of supervised probation.

Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com