Tchula woman to stand trial for fire

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From the Greenwood Commonwealth (Mississippi)

Tchula woman to stand trial for fire deaths of children

October 6, 2003

by Deborah Bulkeley

Associated Press

Trial set to begin Thursday

JACKSON - Nearly a year after six children died in flames that engulfed their mobile home in Tchula, the woman accused of leaving them alone is to stand trial.

Firefighters managed to rescue an infant from the Oct. 19 blaze that gutted the mobile home that lacked electricity, heat, and water.

Angela Williams is accused of leaving the children - ages 4 months to 12 years - alone late at night while she was at a Tchula juke joint. She was the mother to three of the victims.

At the time, authorities said the fire likely started from a candle, apparently a source of light inside the mobile home.

In a project initiated by the deadly fire, officials will begin installing smoke alarms in homes in Holmes County today in efforts to see that every home there is equipped with one.

A Holmes County Circuit Court jury, to be selected beginning Thursday, will be asked to decide whether Williams is guilty of six counts of manslaughter and seven counts of child neglect in the deaths of her three children and three children of Carolyn Williams, her sister.

District Attorney James Powell III said the key to his case is "the culpable negligence of leaving the children in the situation that's alleged in the indictment."

If convicted on all charges, Angela Williams could face up to 127 years in jail and $6,000 in fines. She remains free on a $10,000 bond.

The trial had been scheduled for May, but was postponed when attorney Ed Blackmon of Canton, a state representative, joined Williams' defense team.

Last November, Blackmon filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Holmes County against Anthony Mansoor, the mobile home's owner.

Blackmon has previously said Angela Williams is not listed as a plaintiff in the lawsuit filed on behalf of Carolyn Williams and other family members. The lawsuit seeks $10 million plus punitive damages from the landlord.

Williams' attorney Jim Arnold of Durant declined to comment on the his trial strategy.

In the months since the fire, many in the Mississippi Delta town of 2,300 have expressed support and sympathy for Williams, saying that the loss of her children is punishment enough.

"I do hope it will come to a closure so the lady can go on and live her life, and continue to think about her children and what she maybe should have done," said Jessie D. Banks, Tchula's former mayor and a retired teacher.

Banks, who plans to attend the trial, said as a mother herself, it's difficult to judge another mother.

"She shouldn't have left her children alone, but in leaving the children, she wasn't expecting this to happen," Banks said. "I don't believe she did it deliberately."

Another person who has followed the investigation closely, Jacques Bobrowsky of Boca Raton, Fla., said there's a fine line between accidents and negligence. He said where there is negligence, parents should be held responsible for their actions.

"The children's lives were taken and there needs to be accountability," said Bobrowsky, who founded the children's advocacy group Haley's Rights. He said the group is monitoring some 40 cases around the nation.

"You have six children who are dead - I don't think you can get much more severe than that," he said. "Those children will never have the opportunity to enjoy anything that life has to offer."

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