Burlington, Vermont - July 11, 2011
A convicted arsonist faced his victims' family Monday after a decade behind bars. But what he had to say is not what the grieving family members wanted to hear. Eric Williams is serving 40 to 60 years for setting a deadly arson fire in 1999. Now he claims he had a lousy lawyer and he should get a new trial. Monday was the first time he ever took the stand to defend his story since he pled guilty.
Convicted arsonist Eric Williams is sticking to his new story. "Still to this day it bothers me that four people perished in this fire that I didn't commit," Williams testified.
But 11 years ago he confessed to setting the deadly blaze in Milton that killed his upstairs neighbor and her three grandchildren. Williams pled guilty to four counts of involuntary manslaughter. Now he says a state police investigator coerced him to confess during on off-tape portion of their interview. "Eventually I broke down and agreed with Harrington that I may have did this," Williams said. "As soon as I agreed with him, we had a new taped interview."
Williams told the judge Monday he has no memory of setting the fire. Instead, he claims he went to bed angry, having discovered that his girlfriend was sleeping with his best friend and woke up as smoke was filling his room.
"Would you confess to killing four people if you didn't do it. No," said Diane Moulton, who lost her grandson in the fire. She isn't buying Williams' revised version of events. "He is full of it. He knows what he did. Maybe he didn't do it intentionally, but he did kill all those people," she said.
Although Williams was a volunteer firefighting cadet growing up, this wasn't his first brush with arson. Chittenden County Deputy State's Attorney pointed to old statements Williams made to police where he admitted setting his Massachusetts home ablaze when he was a child. "You were the one who set the fire in Danvers, Massachusetts," she said.
Eric Williams: "I mean, it's right here. I can't debate that."
But Williams is debating the effectiveness of his council. He claims he pled guilty to the Milton arson because his lawyer at the time told him a plea was his best hope of escaping life in prison. He argues this bad advice gives him grounds for a new trial.
"My aunt even told me to listen to my lawyer -- he knew what he was doing. He was looking out for the best interest of his client, and so I went along with him," Williams said.
"He is just making up excuses so he can get out earlier," Diane Moulton said.
Jennifer Reading - WCAX News
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