GREENEVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL) — Former downtown Johnson City resident Sean Williams’s trial on federal child pornography production charges involving three different children was pushed back by three weeks Monday. It will now begin Nov. 12.
U.S. District Judge Ronnie Greer ordered the continuance Monday, following Friday’s motion by defense attorney Mark Brown, who has a federal trial in Washington D.C. starting Oct. 28 that cannot be rescheduled. Williams’ trial had been set to start Oct. 22. Prosecutors in the case supported Brown’s motion and said their witnesses will be available at the new time.
Other deadlines in the case remain the same, including a plea deadline of Oct. 8.
Greer noted Brown’s doubt as to whether he could adequately prepare for both trials in the given time frame, calling a continuance “necessary to allow Mr. Brown to fully prepare for Defendant’s trial.” He said that factor outweighed the public and Williams’ right to a speedy trial in a case that has already seen many delays.
Williams, 52, was indicted Sept. 12, 2023 and on three federal counts of enticing a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of manufacturing child pornography. Conviction on any count carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 30 years.
Brown is Williams’ fifth appointed attorney. All the others have been granted their motions to withdraw as his counsel. Williams represented himself at a late July trial on a charge of escape and another of attempted escape. He was convicted on the escape charge and acquitted on the other and faces up to five years in federal prison for that conviction.
In a notice last week to introduce additional evidence at the trial, prosecutors alleged that photographic evidence exists of Williams sexually abusing five different children, not just the three reflected in the criminal counts. They wrote that additional counts involving those children haven’t been brought because they haven’t been able to determine the childrens’ identity. But they want to use the evidence of alleged abuse of them because, among other reasons, it contains visual evidence that Williams is the perpetrator.
Williams faces related counts in state court, of child rape/sexual assault. He is also at the center of three federal civil lawsuits against Johnson City and some police officers, related to allegations he drugged and raped women at his fifth-floor Johnson City apartment over a period of years — and that police failed to properly investigate complaints against him in exchange for payoffs.
Williams fled Johnson City in May 2021 after police tried to arrest him on an unrelated charge, but was arrested in Cullowhee, N.C. April 30, 2023. Authorities allegedly found large amounts of cocaine and methamphetamine on Williams, then, presumably while looking for evidence of drug transactions on flash drives he had with him, came across digital files purporting to show Williams raping more than 50 women.
