Page 2 - Florida Sentinel 9-17-19
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Feature
Trial Continues In Murder Of 9-Year-Old Tampa Girl
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
Last week, attorneys in the first-degree murder trial of Granville T. Ritchie se- lected 9 women and 6 men from a pool of 60 prospective jurors. Ritchie has been in jail since his arrest on May 21, 2014.
The trial began on Friday with opening arguments and is expected to last tw0 weeks. The panel of jurors will be called upon to decide if Ritchie is guilty of killing 9- year-old Felecia Nicole Williams.
If he is convicted, the jury will be responsible for decid- ing if he deserves the death penalty. Laws have changed since the murder and jurors must unanimously agree that
GRANVILLE T. RITCHIE ... Charged with first-degree murder
Ritchie deserves to die for the crime.
Hillsborough County Cir- cuit Judge Michelle Sisco, Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, is overseeing the trial.
Background On
Murder Charge
Five years ago, the Tem- ple Terrace Police Depart- ment investigated the disappearance of 9-year-old Felecia Nicole Williams. She was last seen at an apart- ment complex where she had gone with Ms. Eboni Wiley, an acquaintance of the family. Ms. Wiley, now 28, was one of the last people to have seen the child alive.
The child’s body was found the following day in the bay off Courtney Camp- bell Causeway.
Ritchie, now 40, was ar- rested and charged with first-degree murder, sexual battery, and aggravated child abuse among other charges.
During a second inter- view with police, Ms. Wiley revised her initial story. She
FELECIA WILLIAMS
told police she left Felecia with Ritchie for about 35 minutes while she went to buy marijuana. She told po- lice that Ritchie called her and allegedly said he had given the child some money to buy candy from a CVS. She reportedly drove to the store,
but returned to the apart- ment upon Ritchie’s re- quest. She told police they consumed alcohol and had sex before Ritchie took her home.
Several hours passed be- fore she contacted Felecia’s family to notify them that the child was missing. She was arrested and charged with providing false information to police during a missing person investigation.
Ritchie allegedly told police that Felecia disap- peared during a 45-minute time frame while he and Ms. Wiley were having sex. He said Ms. Wiley briefly looked for the child before he took her home.
Felecia was the daughter of Ms. Felecia Demerson and attended Edison Ele- mentary School.
Sheriff Adds Medical Equipment To Police Cruisers
SHERIFF CHAD CHRONISTER
Last Thursday, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chro- nister announced the expan- sion of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office AED inventory. He has committed to putting an AED in every marked patrol car, allowing deputies to better as- sist people in a medical emer- gency.
Sheriff Chronister said, "Our deputies are often the first to the scene. When someone is in sudden cardiac arrest every second counts, which is why I feel it is so important to have an AED in every marked patrol car."
Two deputies recently used an AED to save the life of a Hillsborough County resident.
2019 Hillsborough Expungement Clinic Planned
The Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office, along with the Tampa Hillsborough Homeless Initiative, (THHI), and the Commission on the Status of Women (COSW), will host its 2019 Hillsborough County Expungement Clinic. It will be held on Tuesday, Sep- tember 17th, from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., at the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office, 419 N. Pierce Street, Tampa, 33602.
The Expungement clinic of- fers people who have been ar- rested in Hillsborough County an opportunity to have one criminal record sealed or ex- punged. Only arrests or charges that did not result in a criminal conviction may qual- ify for a sealing or expunction.
This one-stop-shop will in- clude the preparation of appli- cation and review by the State Attorney's Office, notary serv- ices at no charge, and for qual- ified participants, our partners from THHI and COSW will provide the $75 processing fee required by the Florida Depart-
ment of Law Enforcement (FDLE). HART Bus Passes, health screenings, and voter registration opportunities will also be available to partici- pants.
Since last year's inaugural event, more than 145 partici- pants successfully submitted their sealing or expunction ap- plication to FDLE at no cost.
If you are planning to attend, bring the following items with you:
A valid government-issued picture ID so that you can have your documents notarized -ap- propriate identification in- cludes: State-issued driver's license, State-issued identifica- tion card, U. S. passport, U. S. military ID, State, county and local government IDs, perma- nent resident card, or "green card," issued by the U. S. Citi- zenship and Immigration Serv- ice;
A recent review of your eli- gible charges, which can be done here: https://hover.- hillsclerk.com/html/case/cas- eSearch.html.
PAGE 2 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2019