Daily Republic
VALLEJO — The prosecution rested its case Friday against Henry D. Williams, the accused killer of Fairfield City Councilman Matt Garcia.
A drug dealer who took $50 from Gene A. Combs, Williams' friend, and who never gave Combs his methamphetamine retook the witness stand. Ryan Estes talked about how Combs' increasing anger may have fueled gunfire in the Cordelia street outside his Silverado Drive home on the night of Sept. 1, 2008.
Other witnesses have testified Williams mistook Garcia for Estes that night. The pair went to the drug dealer's home shortly before Garcia drove past them on his way to a nearby friend's home. After the shooting, Williams climbed back into their car and they drove off.
Estes emphasized how he was more than just a methamphetamine and cocaine provider to Williams, that their relationship was more of a friendship.
Estes ended his testimony by trying to tell Garcia's family members in the courtroom that he was sorry.
Prosecutor George Williamson also put on a series of witnesses who described Williams fleeing Fairfield the day after the shooting and showing up in a Las Vegas mosque where he told a tale of being a displaced hurricane victim from Houston.
Williams was arrested two weeks after Garcia's death.
Following a gun
The trail of the alleged murder weapon, before and after the killing, was also detailed throughout the day's testimony. The weapon was a 50-year-old, .22 caliber Colt semi-automatic handgun.
Previous testimony about crime scene ballistics show the old gun was fired at least eight times with bullets ricocheting off the street and sidewalk and striking distant homes and cars. Garcia, standing at least 40 yards from the gun, was struck once in the back of the head.
A few weeks before the shooting, a friend of Combs sold him the gun for $160, according to the friend's testimony. The friend, a convicted felon, got the gun from another friend, also a convicted felon, who found the gun in a pile of clothes he bought at a rental storage locker property auction.
Williams had the gun in a black plastic box while he was at a Labor Day barbecue party in Berkeley on the afternoon before the shooting, according to testimony of the party's host, also a felon.
The host also described for police two weeks after the shooting that Williams had shown back up at the Berkeley home the day after the shooting telling the host "I (expletive) around and I shot the councilman" and that "a dope fiend got (him) in a wreck."
One of Williams' neighbors testified about Williams arriving at his East Tabor Avenue apartment a short time after the shooting, beer in hand and very drunk, and bragging about how "he had to unload a clip on someone."
A neighbor of Williams' mother testified Williams had showed up at his home on the night of the shooting and given him a black plastic box with a gun inside.
The neighbor, also a felon, said he got a call from Williams the next day telling him to get rid of the gun. The neighbor testified he took the alleged murder weapon to the Benicia Bridge and threw the gun into the Suisun Bay before disposing of the plastic box in a gas station trash can.
Police dive teams never found the gun.
The defense case will get under way when the trial resumes Thursday. Judge Rob Bowers said the jury should hear closing arguments in the trial and begin deliberations by the next day.
Combs' jury trial on a murder charge is scheduled to begin the following week on May 26.
Reach Jess Sullivan at 427-6919 or jsullivan@dailyrepublic.net.
I never pray on a golf course. Actually, the Lord answers my prayers everywhere except on the course. ~ Billy Graham
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