United States v. Williams

Rico Williams (defendant) was the leader of a group called Brothers of the Struggle, which was made up of United States military members stationed at Ramstein Air Force Base. The group had an initiation ritual called a jump-in. Essentially, six group members would hit a new member, or initiate, for six minutes below the neck but above the waist. The initiate was not permitted to defend himself during the jump-in. However, the initiate was generally asked whether he wanted to proceed throughout the course of the jump-in. If the initiate indicated that he did not want to proceed at any time, the jump-in ended. In July 2005, Juwan Johnson sought initiation to the group. By this point, the group had performed about 15 to 18 jump-ins without any hospitalizations or deaths. On the night of Johnson’s initiation, Williams asked Johnson twice whether he was ready to begin the jump-in, to which Johnson replied, “Hell yeah,” both times. Williams punched Johnson in the face, and Johnson fell. Johnson stood up, and Williams asked Johnson whether he wanted to continue, which elicited a third “Hell yeah” from Johnson. Nine group members began hitting Johnson below the neck and above the waist. After the jump-in, Johnson’s only visible injury was bleeding from the mouth. Johnson died of blunt-force injuries by morning of the next day. Williams was charged with second-degree murder. During the prosecutor’s closing argument, the prosecutor stated that consent is never a defense to murder and that “you can’t even consider it in his intent or anything else.” A jury found Williams guilty of second-degree murder. Subsequently, Williams moved for judgment of acquittal, which was denied. Williams appealed, arguing that he had been substantially prejudiced by the prosecutor’s incorrect statement during the closing argument.