District Court judge Jeffery Donnell filed an order on May 5 to vacate Dalton Dale William’s five-day jury trial previously scheduled for June 1, and scheduled a change of plea hearing for June 2.
Williams and his counsel are pursuing a plea deal where Williams would plead guilty to one count of manslaughter, and in return the state would dismiss the second-degree murder charge and “cap its recommendation at sentencing to a term of incarceration of not less than three and not more than five years, as well as recommend the defendant be placed in the ‘boot camp’ program,” according to a plea agreement filed on April 27.
The plea deal will be looked over at the change of plea hearing, where Donnell will decide whether to accept the deal or not.
Williams was involved in an altercation with Joseph McGowan, a UW student, last Halloween that left McGowan dead. Williams told police McGowan quickly approached a fight involving Williams’ friend when Williams saw him and hit him once in the left temple and immediately saw him “tense up and go rigid.”
“That kid was like pacing towards Austin… yelling and it was just like a, like a, natural reaction… you just, I hit him,” Williams told police the morning after the incident, according to court documents.
Williams also told police that McGowan did not “make any aggressive movements towards” Williams or his friend. Williams said further in the interview that he “probably shouldn’t have” hit McGowan.
McGowan died at around 2 p.m. on November 1 at the Medical Center of the Rockies, due to the injuries caused by the initial punch thrown by Williams, as well as after the punch, when he struck his head on the hard street surface.
