Evans was a former honor student from a religious Chicago-area family who got mixed up with a tough crowd after a teen pregnancy. Williams, an Alabama native, is described by her lawyers as borderline retarded, a drug abuser with a severely dependent personality. Some of the most pivotal testimony at her trial will come from the grave. Judge Peter Dockery is allowing prosecutors to use statements Joshua whimpered to friends of the defendants who cared for him briefly before he, too, was killed. Joshua identified the trio and told of seeing his family killed, according to pretrial testimony.
Prosecutors say they'll seek the death penalty for all three defendants if they're convicted.