A Toledo woman accused of murder is representing herself in court. Melody Williams is accused of shooting and killing a Sylvania Township man then setting his home on fire.
It's day four of her trial. A lot of the evidence in the case is circumstantial evidence against Williams and she is determined to prove to the jury she is innocent.
It's a move we don't see often in Lucas County. An alleged murder suspect acting as her own attorney. Melody Williams is accused of shooting LC Lyons in the head then setting his home on fire.
Police say the motive was robbery. Detective Jim Rettig took the stand today and testified the victim was a known drug dealer and pimp. Rettig told the court through interviews he learned from one of the victims on again off again girlfriends, that.
"It was not uncommon for LC to have his jewelry laying out in the bedroom on a dresser. She said he frequently had large amounts of cash laying out," said Sylvania Township Detective Jim Rettig.
Prosecutors say after Lyons' house was set on fire. His car was stolen and found near Williams 14th street home. Inside the car police found green tipped diamond matches the same matches found at the crime scene and at Williams home.
Williams maintains she did not commit the murder. Dressed in a black suit she questioned the detective about the safe found in the victim's home, the crack cocaine found in a bedroom and a laptop computer.
"We're talking about a del lap top, crack cocaine, marijuana and you said in your professional opinion these are not items that would be taken by a robbery in the course of a robbery is that correct," said Melody Williams.
"Things of value the crack cocaine was not in the open it was hidden and over the last couple of years at least in my experiences of investigating burglaries. The only thing you see stolen is jewelry because of the price of gold how it sky rocketed people will steal jewelry. I very rarely see computers and TV's anything like that stolen they're big bulky to carry out jewelry is the hot item," said Detective Rettig.
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