Trial Tuesday: Defense lawyer on what Sean Williams can expect representing self

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL) — Sean Williams shouldn’t expect any exceptions to federal court rules despite acting as his own attorney, an area defense attorney told News Channel 11 Monday — the same day Judge Ronnie Greer denied Williams’ motion to delay his first trial.

“From what I’ve seen Judge Greer expects people that come into his court to be prepared to know what’s going on, to take things serious, and to respect the sanctity of the court, to respect the process,” Chris Byrd said.

Williams, a former downtown Johnson City resident who is accused of multiple child sex offenses and suspected of drugging and raping more than 50 women, goes on trial Tuesday for one count of escape and one count of attempted escape. He went through four appointed defense attorneys before Greer ruled early this month that he must represent himself.

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Byrd said Greer has likely been very careful through the various delays to avoid any missteps that could give Williams an opening for a successful appeal — a non-uncommon effort among defendants who represent themselves.

“Judge Greer knows the appellate law, he knows what the Sixth Circuit is going to do in cases like this, because this obviously wouldn’t be the first time that someone’s had to go pro se or has made trouble for counsel,” Byrd said.

“So I’m certain Judge Greer has been planning for this after the first attorney was let off the case, certainly after the second, because you start to see the writing on the wall and you start to plan for what happens if this person continues.”

Williams’ charges this week involve an alleged attempted escape from the Washington County Detention Center last July and an escape from a prison transport van in October as he was en route to a federal hearing.

Each carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, while a pending federal trial on three charges of producing child pornography could net Williams up to 60 years of total prison time if he’s convicted. He also faces state child rape charges and federal drug charges that could include a life without parole sentence, while potential charges of rapes of adult women have not yet been filed.

Williams has filed numerous motions within the past week and claimed in one that he was “forced to proceed pro se” (represent himself) on July 11. Byrd said that claim is among a number of potential moves Williams may quickly learn don’t work when normal procedural rules are being enforced.

“I’m sure Mr. Williams will be instructed not to tell the jury that he was forced to represent himself or things of that nature,” Byrd said.

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Rules like that, and many others, are a major reason the Constitution is interpreted to allow appointed counsel even for defendants who can’t afford a lawyer.

“We know where to look for things if we have a question, and the average person out there is just simply not going to know those things, not only knowing what the law is you’re charged with, the nuances of that, (but) how to cross-examine, what are the rules of evidence?

“What are the rules of procedure? All these things that you have to know going in as a pro se defendant is like trying to play in the Super Bowl without knowing the rules of football.”

Why it gets to this point sometimes

Byrd said defendants who end up representing themselves may have an inflated opinion of their ability to navigate the system.

“In the case of a person like Mr. Williams, who has had four very experienced, very capable attorneys appointed to him, when you keep running into the same problem with a person like that, clearly they think they know better than the attorneys,” he said.

Byrd’s seen defendants who are in denial about how evidence will be used against them, or just “don’t like the answers they’re getting” from attorneys.

Pro se defendants can get into trouble in a variety of ways, including asking leading questions, trying to testify from the podium or bringing up things that haven’t been brought out in evidence.

“They don’t understand that you can’t do that, that there is a method by which you have to do direct examination and cross-examination. There’s procedural constraints on that. There are strategic constraints on that, or at least there should be.

“A lot of times, you know, pro se a defendants think, ‘I’m just going to tell the story and everybody will just hear it and they’ll just believe me and everything will be roses.’ And very, very rarely is that the case.”

Williams’ fourth attorney, Ilya Berenshteyn, will serve as so-called “elbow counsel.”

“If you (elbow counsel) slip somebody a note or you tell them, ‘hey, object to this’ or whatever else, maybe they’ll listen to you, maybe they won’t. They haven’t listened so far. So it’s, you know, elbow counsel is there just in case. But it’s up to the person as to whether or not they’re actually going to listen.”

If Monday was any indication, Williams will find representing himself as difficult as it is for the average pro se defendant. His contention that he didn’t have adequate time to review evidence didn’t fly.

“He’s had four attorneys who have had access to this evidence and who, I would presume, knowing the reputations of each, have gone over this with him in detail, probably provided him with copies of whatever they could,” Byrd said.

‘Process won’t be compromised’

Byrd said Greer is “not going to put up with a lot of nonsense” and will likely “be as demanding of Mr. Williams as he would be a licensed attorney in his court.”

Byrd said Greer must look out for not just Williams’ rights, but those of the federal prosecutors who also deserve a fair trial.

“Just because Sean Williams either doesn’t understand or doesn’t want to abide by various elements of process … if I were a betting man, I would bet heavily that the process will not be compromised because that would put the government in a worse position.”

Byrd said all of the attorneys who’ve represented Williams — he was arrested on separate charges April 30, 2023 and then put in federal custody due to outstanding charges — have good reputations. He said Williams’ apparent decision to formally file a written complaint to the state bar against Joseph McAfee, attorney number three, was telling.

“It might be one out of 100 that you get where somebody is just so bent on this reality they’ve created for themselves that they keep getting an answer they don’t want to hear.

“And our job as attorneys is not to give you the answer that you want to hear. It’s to tell you what you need to know, like ‘this is this is how this is going to go. This is how the evidence is going to be used. This is what we’re up against.’

“Some people can handle that, but every once in a great while, some can’t.”

Jury selection in Williams’ trial begins at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

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