COLUSA COUNTY, CA (MPG) – The next time convicted bank robber John Williams III appears in Colusa County Superior Court for resentencing, an attorney will represent him.
Williams, 45, who represented himself at trial for the 2019 armed robbery of the Umpqua Bank in Arbuckle, evoked his right to an attorney on March 27, the moment he realized that having his 16-year prison sentence vacated by the California Third District Court of Appeals did not automatically mean that Judge Jeffery A. Thompson will give him less time behind bars.
Due to California’s new criminal reform laws designed to result in the likelihood sentences will be “more favorable” to defendants – and applied retroactively to cases not finalized on appeal – the appellate court in September 2023 ruled that the trial court cannot sentence Williams to an upper term for robbery based on his prior criminal history without making that finding through a certified record of his convictions.
A jury convicted Williams in October 2021 of four felony charges, after he and his cousin Michael Gene Jones robbed two bank tellers at gunpoint and made off with $4,595.
Although both managed to escape following a high-speed pursuit by a Colusa County Sheriff’s deputy, the appellate court affirmed that DNA found on clothing tossed from the stolen vehicle they eventually ditched before fleeing on foot matched those to Williams and Jones, and that Williams, in an August 2020 recorded conversation in the back of court transport vehicle, speculated to that conclusion to his cousin.
Jones pleaded guilty to the robbery on Aug. 27, 2020, and is serving nine years in the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad. Following trail, Thompson sentenced Williams to an upper term of five years for the robbery, 10 years for the firearm enhancement, plus one year (one-third the middle term) for the robbery of the second teller, although the appellate court did find a clerical error with the actual abstract of judgment, court records indicate.
Williams, who is incarcerated at Folsom Prison, was just two months into his sentence when Senate Bill 567 went into effect on Jan. 1, 2022, amending the law to “limit the trial court’s ability to impose an upper term determinate sentence by making the middle term the presumptive prison term unless specified circumstances exist.”
Although Williams last week demanded a middle-term sentence based on “winning” his appeal, the appellate court affirmed the amended statute permits the trial court to “consider the defendant’s prior convictions in determining sentencing based on a certified record of conviction,” which Thompson pointed out.
Under SB 567, judges can no longer sentence defendants to upper terms based solely on criminal records compiled by probation officers.
“We do not know whether the probation report accurately reflects defendant’s criminal record, and if not, the significance of any discrepancies that may exist between the certified records of conviction and the recitation provided in the probation report,” the appellate court noted in its published opinion. “While we cannot say it is likely there is an error in the probation report, or that any such error would likely have resulted in a lesser sentence, errors do occur, and the prospect of one resulting in a lesser sentence is more than an abstract possibility.”
At Williams’ March 26 hearing, District Attorney Brenden Farrell was prepared for resentence by having a certified copy of the criminal record and asked Thompson to admit it into evidence.
Farrell confirmed what the probation department recited, and that Williams had multiple prior convictions throughout his adult life throughout Northern California, including drug sales, robbery, and gun violations.
According to court records, an appellate court upheld a San Mateo County conviction that he threatened the life of the mother of his child, and later tried to dissuade her from testifying against him, both of which are felonies.
Even the Third District Court of Appeals affirmed the Arbuckle bank robbery was a sophisticated plan formulated by a career criminal that was only thwarted by a witness at the ATM, who flagged down Fire Chief Casey Cox, who pursued the vehicle until Deputy Robert Ladd could pick up the chase.
The appellate court noted Williams and Jones spent the day before the robbery together and that Jones’ sister lives near where they abandoned the vehicle, which is why extensive ground and aerial searches failed to locate the two men.
“The evidence overwhelmingly established that two gunmen entered the Umpqua Bank in Arbuckle, robbed two tellers of a substantial amount of cash from the cash drawers, fled in a pickup truck, and then successfully avoided apprehension that night after abandoning the truck and various items of clothing worn during the robbery,” the appellate court stated.
The court noted that because Williams and Jones both had prior felony criminal, their DNA, on file in the FBI database, matched the DNA found on the discarded clothing used in the robbery.
The appellate court did not support Williams’ additional claim on appeal that his constitutional and due process rights were violated regarding jury instruction, because Williams, in defending himself, “invited the error,” the opinion notes.
Williams is scheduled to appear in Colusa County Superior Court on May 8 for resentencing, at which time he will be represented by Public Defender Brandon Williams, who serves as John Williams’ advisory council.
Judge Thompson noted his displeasure at the absence of the attorney, who was in trial in Butte County, at the March 26 hearing, but rescheduled the hearing because John Williams evoked his right to have counsel appointed.
Meanwhile, Williams will await resentencing in Folsom, with Thompon cautioning Williams that he would not tolerate unnecessary delays.
Following Williams’ arrest on charges connected to the bank robbery, the defendant, who was incarcerated at San Quentin Prison on unrelated charges, appeared approximately 80 times in Colusa County Superior Court on motions the court said were largely frivolous.