Jury deliberating Williams capital murder case - 13abc.com Toledo (OH) News, Weather and Sports

Jury deliberation got underway Thursday afternoon in the Samuel Williams capital murder case.

The 24-year-old from East Toledo is now the only remaining suspect charged in the Springfield Township murders of Lisa Straub and her boyfriend Johnny Clarke a year and a half ago.

Jurors arrived at the Lucas County Courthouse Thursday morning with their overnight bags packed.

The jury don't reach a verdict Thursday night and were sequestered to a hotel with plans to  resume deliberations again Friday morning.

The men and women are deciding the fate of Samuel Williams who did not take the stand in his own defense and who could face the death penalty if convicted.

The jury box sits empty as three men and nine women deliberate behind closed doors whether Samuel Williams is guilty of murdering Lisa Straub and her boyfriend Johnny Clarke back in January of 2011 at the Straub family home on Longacre Lane.

Straub and Clarke were found with their hands duct-taped behind their backs and plastic bags duct-taped over their heads.

Judge Dean Mandros gave the jury these instructions.

"You are the judges of the facts, the believability of the witnesses and the weight of the evidence," says Judge Mandros.

"This case is about drugs, money, and murder," says Assistant Lucas County Prosecutor Rob Miller during closing arguments.

The prosecution points to DNA evidence that they say links Samuel Williams to the crime scene: a cigarette butt with DNA on it that matches the defendant.

"Samuel Williams was in that house on that night," says Assistant Lucas County Prosecutor Chris Anderson.

Defense attorney John Thebes argued that Williams' DNA and fingerprints could not be found on any other evidence at the crime scene, when other people's were, including "Unknown Female Number One"
on the duct tape and Clarke's sweatshirt and sweat pants.  However, analysts couldn't identify those people.

"Meaningful for people out there probably laughing at this whole proceeding right now," says Thebes.

Another big question both sides addressed is whether to believe the testimony of one witness: the former jail inmate named Eric Yingling who says Williams confessed to him while behind bars.

"If you believe Eric Yingling this case is over. He [Williams] is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. We're going to talk about that because there's things that Eric said that other persons wouldn't know about that adds credibility to him," says Miller.

Prosecutors specifically point to evidence that Lisa's dad Jeff Straub had $4,500 worth of Iraqi currency hidden in the closet of an upstairs bedroom which was found in tact even though the home was ransacked.
Yingling says Williams told him he didn't take the dinar because he didn't know if it was real or Monopoly money.

The defense calls Yingling "slick" saying Yingling stole information from Williams' court documents in jail and came up with a story for the prosecution for a deal.

"He landed on the space he needed to land on. He got to play that get out of jail free card," says Thebes.

Thebes argued some on Yingling's story didn't match the evidence.
Thebes says the evidence points away from Williams.

Several friends of Johnny Clarke testified this week that Johnny sold marijuana and that both Johnny and Lisa used percocet pills.

Another witness said she was mad at Johnny before he died about problems with him selling her his car.  She testified that she is good friends with Williams.