Alvin Williams had few words Monday as he stood in Baltimore City Circuit Court for what a judge called the senseless murder of a private school basketball coach.
“I maintain my innocence,” said Williams, 26, of Baltimore County. “That?s it.”
But Williams? persistence didn?t sway Judge John Glynn, who sentenced Williams to 60 years in prison for second-degree murder, first-degree assault and a firearm charge ? the maximum penalty allowed by law.
“There was overwhelming evidence of your guilt,” Glynn said from the bench. “This was a completely senseless, violent act.”
A jury convicted Williams on Jan. 12 of the Nov. 12, 2005, murder of Brian O?Neil Jones, 34, of Millersville, in Canton. A Northrop Grumman software engineer and Cardinal Gibbons basketball coach for 10 years, Jones left a Canton nightspot with a friend when Williams approached them with a rifle and opened fire for no apparent reason, prosecutors said.
Assistant State?s Attorney Sam Yee, of the office?s homicide division, said he believed Williams had intended to rob Jones, who was married and a father of three, and his friend.
Jones played basketball for Tennessee State University. After graduation, he coached his younger brother, Brandon, at Cardinal Gibbons, his father Gerald said during his victim-impact statement in court.
“This was Brian?s way of giving back to the community,” Gerald Jones said. “… He influenced and touched the lives of the players, students and staff of Cardinal Gibbons.”
In open court, Gerald Jones asked Williams why he killed his son.
“To Mr. Alvin Williams, the question we the family struggle with is ?Why?? ” Gerald Jones asked. “Only you and God know the answer.”
Jones? wife, Kenya, said the tragedy in her life has drawn her closer to friends and family, including those in the Catholic community.
“Cardinal Gibbons has always felt like home,” she said. “We spent half our life there.”
After the sentencing, Jones? father said he and his family have forgiven Williams.
“God forgives and we must forgive,” he said.
