Jurors acquitted Deangelo Williams of all charges in the February 2011 murder of Lucki Pannell.
Williams was indicted on first-degree premeditated murder and three counts of possession of a firearm. He was also cleared of two counts of assault with intent to kill while armed, for allegedly shooting Terry and Bernardo Jimenez in the same incident that killed Pannell.
Jurors delivered the verdict Thursday afternoon after two days of deliberations.
At trial, prosecutors argued that Williams blamed Terry Jimenez for the 2007 shooting death of his best friend Jonathan Franklin and went to the neighborhood around Hobart Place on Feb. 19, 2011, for revenge.
Jimenez testified that he was sitting outside of Pannell’s home when he noticed a person at the bottom of the steps and that as the person reached the porch, he began shooting.
Jimenez was the only witness who identified Williams as the masked shooter, claiming he recognized him by his eyes. And Jimenez waited two years to tell police, after he’d pleaded guilty in another fatal shooting.
“Everybody wanted justice for Lucki,” Veronice Holt, Williams’ attorney, said in closing arguments. “But that cannot mean injustice for Mr. Williams.”
