CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A Kanawha County murder trial, originally set to begin Monday, has been rescheduled.
The new trial date is April 17.
Antonio Williams, 24, allegedly shot and killed Shannon Cade, 20, at a home on Mathews Avenue in Charleston. Cade and a teenage girl were shot in January 2016.
Cade was rushed to Charleston Area Medical Center where he later died. The 14 year old girl suffered non-life threatening injuries.
Kanawha County Circuit Judge Charles King granted a continuance Monday morning after prosecutors told him key witness, Jalynn Stephenson, is 35 weeks pregnant and is unavailable to testify at the moment.
Williams’ attorney Mark Plants said he believes Stephenson has been “uncooperative” in the case and will continue to be that way when they get to trial.
“I feel like we’re laying the ground work for a motion to include this uncooperative, in my belief, witness at trial and try to play her stake because she’s going to be unavailable,” Plants told the judge. “I think all of this is irrelevant.”
“My client has been in jail for over a year,” Plants continued. “We just want a trial and we want it quick, your honor.”
Maryclaire Akers, assistant Kanawha County prosecutor, said Stephenson will be able to provide detailed information to the court because she was at the scene of the crime.
“She went with the defendant up to the house where she believed there was going to be a fight between the defendant and an individual named Coles. Instead, the defendant, Mr. Williams, pulled out a handgun and shot multiple times into the residence where Mr. Cade was sitting and another juvenile female,” Akers told the judge.
Police said Williams believed someone else was inside the home and that his intended target was not necessarily Cade.
“Mr. Cade was shot. He died the next day as a result of his injuries and the juvenile was injured by a grazing bullet to the head,” Akers explained.
Williams was arrested in Morgantown and charged with first degree murder. Police also arrested a 17 year old juvenile for accessory after the fact of first degree murder.
Williams remains in the South Central Regional Jail.