A man found guilty of brutally stabbing two women more than 60 times was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday, three months after jurors denied his claim of self-defense. NBC6’s Christian Colón reports
A man found guilty of brutally stabbing two women more than 60 times was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday, three months after jurors denied his claim of self-defense.
Fifty-one-year-old Franklyn Delanoy Williams was convicted by jurors in January of two counts of second-degree murder in the May 7, 2019, killings of his girlfriend, 35-year-old Sophia Simpson, and her close cousin and roommate, 27-year-old Gabrella Griffith.
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WATCH HEREProsecutors said Williams stabbed Simpson more than 50 times and Griffith about 10 times inside their apartment at the Paraiso Bay at 650 Northeast 32nd Street in Edgewater.
"I pray every day that God can give me the strength to forgive you, but it's hard," said Juliette Rose, Griffith's mother, while going face to face with Williams during sentencing. "I hope you rot in hell."
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Wearing "Gabby's" favorite color, yellow, Nicole Odem appeared in court for the first time in nearly six years after losing her sister. Odem said she and her mom did not want to come back to Miami, a city that took their loved one away from them.
"I didn't want to come. But there is a greater responsibility, and I needed to make sure he went to jail for a long time," said Odem, who urged the judge to give Williams a life sentence.
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Simpson's sister also spoke during sentencing and told Williams she forgave him after years of a lot of pain.
Williams did not speak during sentencing, but during the trial, he confessed to killing the two women, saying he did so in self-defense.
"She grabbed the knife, and I was sitting on the bed," Williams said on the stand. "She came and stabbed me. I held up my hands, and I had gotten cut."
But prosecutors rejected the self-defense claim, adding they believed he killed his girlfriend, Simpson, out of anger, and Gabby was caught in the violence.
Despite defense attorneys asking for a less severe punishment, Judge Miguel M De La O sentenced Williams to life in prison.
"There are no redeeming qualities here, and the only appropriate punishment is to sentence you to life in prison," stated the judge.
"Thank God," Rose screamed in the courtroom after hearing her daughter's killer would stay in prison for the rest of his life.
