Opinion ID: 1917678
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Winfield proffer

Text: In addition to the two witnesses above, Williamson's counsel proffered yet another piece of newly discovered evidence in support of a third-party perpetrator defense: an admission by Von Lee, an ex-employee of Williamson's, who allegedly claims that he was present at the murder scene in one of Williamson's trucks, along with another man. Lee supposedly has also admitted to owning a .45 caliber gun. This admission purportedly bolsters Williamson's contention that he was not the person who drove the truck and the assailant to and from the site of the shooting. Critically, Lee has refused to sign an affidavit or to testify. [21] A successful third-party perpetrator defense rests on proof of facts or circumstances which tend to indicate some reasonable possibility that a person other than the defendant committed the charged offense. [22] At the same time, we exclude evidence that is too speculative with respect to the third party's guilt. [23] We will uphold the trial court's rejection of Winfield evidence unless the court abused its discretion. [24] We find no abuse of discretion on these facts. Lee's alleged admission is completely uncorroborated, even by other defense evidence. There is no explanation as to Lee's motive for possibly being at the crime site in a Williamson truck at the exact moment Chambliss was murdered. No witnesses, including Williamson's own, ever placed Lee at the scene during the trial. Furthermore, Lee's contention that he drove Williamson's third truck to the scene was directly controverted by Williamson's own testimony that the third truck was inoperable that day. Moreover, three defense witnesses testified to seeing the assailant get out of a black car, not a white truck, seemingly corroborating Williamson's contention that neither he nor one of his trucks were at the murder scene. We also fail to see how Lee's statement that he owns a .45-caliber gun helps Williamson, since there is no indication that Lee admitted that it was his gun which was used to murder Chambliss. Finally, given that Williamson has already attempted to procure perjured evidence and testimony, the trial court rightly viewed another admission by an ex-employee with skepticism, which was properly bolstered by the fact that Lee has refused to testify. On these facts, we cannot say that it was an abuse of discretion to refuse to permit Williamson's counsel to testify to Lee's admission.