Representing Williams and Townsel, Virginia Blumenthal argued that because the purse was never found, prosecutors could not prove that a robbery took place and therefore could not provide a motive for the murder.
Both Williams and Townsel had criminal histories involving casinos. Williams was permanently banned from Pechanga in 2015 after stealing a wallet and was banned from two more California resorts for allegedly ripping winning tickets from patrons’ hands, according to a court filing from Garrett reviewed by The Press-Enterprise. She had one previous violent crime: an attempted robbery in Los Angeles County.
Townsel was previously banned from the Sobabo Casino near San Jacinto in 2017 after two purses went missing, the filing claimed. She was banned from the Morongo Casino, where Williams was also banned, after a fight with her boyfriend in 2018.
In a statement read by Blumenthal to the court at Williams’ Friday sentencing, the NBA star’s sister maintained her innocence.
“I am so sorry for your loss,” read the statement addressed to the 84-year-old’s surviving daughter Mary Assad, according to the Press-Enterprise. “I have been praying for you and your family every day. I am not responsible for the death of Mrs. Assad. Although the courts have found me guilty of the charges, we all know the truth, and that there is one judge, and that is God, and he knows the truth.”
But Superior Court Judge Timothy F. Freer was unmoved, saying that “the idea that either Miss Williams or Miss Townsel is not responsible for the death of a human being is laughable.”
“[Assad] lived a long life. Didn’t deserve to be killed, violently murdered in a casino,” he said before handing down his sentence. “She was left on a bathroom floor with her head exploding. A casino bathroom, where people go to urinate and defecate and do God knows what else. That’s how her life ended, not with her family and friends around her.”
Townsel, who did not issue a statement, wiped away tears at the sentencing. Although approximately 15 of her family members sobbed as Freer handed down his sentence, The Press-Enterprise reported, Williams remained stone-faced.
In her victim impact statement read ahead of the sentencing, Assad’s daughter expressed her relief after a “long, painful journey through the criminal justice system.”
“I still can’t believe my mother was the victim of a violent crime … part of me died in that hospital room with her,” Mary Assad wrote. “My father is without his wife and partner and is isolated and alone in a way we cannot begin to understand … We seek not vengeance but there needs to be a reckoning for their heinous act.”
Kawhi Leonard, Williams’ brother, signed a $103 million contract with the Los Angeles Clippers a month before the alleged killing in July of 2019 after leading the Toronto Raptors to an NBA championship. Although his aunt Denise Woodard confirmed Leonard’s relationship to Williams in an interview with The Press-Enterprise, the basketball player has distanced himself from the incident.
Article Appeared @https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/kawhi-leonards-sister-sentenced-life-214639846.html?.tsrc=daily_mail&uh_test=0_00