Shannon Harps' Killer Seeks to Withdraw His Guilty Plea

James Anthony Williams, who received a 35 year sentence for the the brutal slaying of Shannon Harps outside of her Capitol Hill apartment on New Years Eve in 2007, is seeking to withdraw his guilty plea and is asking the court to provide him with new legal counsel.

In court documents filed in King County Superior Court earlier this month, Williams claims he was "compelled...to plead guilty." While documents show Williams apparently believed he was in physical danger while in jail, prosecutors—who, naturally, are opposing Williams' motion—contend Williams made numerous declarations of his own guilt, prior to entering his plea.

"James Williams is a difficult man to please," prosecutors wrote in a response to Williams' motion to withdraw his plea. "At three separate hearings in May 2009, he repeatedly expressed his desire to plead guilty as charged to Murder in the First Degree; although he voiced complaints regarding his incarceration in the King County Jail, [Williams] repeatedly told this Court that his plea was solely motivated by the fact that he was guilty."

Specifically, prosecutors cite a statement made by Williams at the May hearing:

"My attorney[s] seem to think that I want to plead guilty because I wanta get out of jail before they break all my bones, but that's not it. Uh, it's true that I want to get moved to another jail is what I wanta do. That's why I wanta ask today that I can be moved anywhere before they—they kill me in this motherfucker. Anywhere—any jail—I don't care where it is, but I'm still guilty. I wanta plead guilty anyway.

According to police records, Williams—who has a history of paranoid schizophrenia—also made a confession to police officers following his arrest about three weeks after the murder.

At first [Williams] denied any involvement in this murder. He then admitted that he’d killed Shannon Harps. He described in detail seeing her walk on 16th Ave. and he started following her. He said he had no reason to pick her. He did not know her prior to this event, and later said that Harps had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

He followed her into the stairwell and just started stabbing her multiple times. He said he had no sexual motive, no robbery motive, or any other motive. He just wanted to kill her.

Along with his claims of a coerced confession, Williams also says his attorneys did not adequately represent him during trial and has requested new counsel. His legal team has not responded to a request for comment.