The defence continued presenting its case on Thursday in the murder trial of Vickie Williams, calling the director of mental-health services at the Lake County Detention Centre to give evidence about her condition after her arrest.
Williams is accused of killing Darryl and Sharon Getman inside their home at the Waterman Village retirement community in Mount Dora, Florida, on New Year’s Eve in 2022.
The defence has argued that Williams was suffering from schizophrenia and psychosis and should be found not guilty by reason of insanity. Prosecutors accept that she has a history of mental illness but contend that she understood what she was doing and knew it was wrong.
The trial in Tavares, Lake County, began earlier this week after years of delays linked to assessments of Williams’s mental competency. She faces two first-degree murder charges and could receive the death penalty if convicted.
Prosecutors allege that Williams fatally stabbed the Getmans before taking their green Kia and fleeing to Georgia. She was arrested at an Amtrak station in Savannah in January 2023.
Earlier testimony included evidence from the couple’s daughter, who identified jewellery found in Williams’s possession as belonging to her mother. Jurors have also heard 911 calls allegedly made by Williams and watched footage of her police interrogation after her arrest.
The defence began calling witnesses on Wednesday and told the court it expected to continue doing so on Thursday. The proceedings remain focused on Williams’s mental state at the time of the alleged killings and in the period after her arrest.
