A woman has agreed to plead guilty to murder in the stabbing death of her husband.
Opal Williams, 36, was charged with murder and conspiracy in March last year, after her husband, Steven Williams, 52, was stabbed to death.
She reached an agreement to plead guilty, in exchange for a maximum of 50 years in prison. But when she went before a Marion County judge on Wednesday, she hesitated when asked about the details of the crime.
Now, Opal Williams is set to go back to court in a month, giving her attorney time to explain to her what she is pleading guilty to. She had faced a sentence of up to 65 years in prison for the murder charge, and another 40 years for conspiracy.
Police said Opal Williams had told two men to kill her husband because he was having an affair. According to police reports, Opal Williams’ cousin Charles Lehman Jr. came to the Williams’ home in the Wakefield subdivision off Smith Valley Road. Lehman told Steven Williams that Opal Williams was hurt. Once Steven Williams came out of the house, Lehman and Rickey King, Opal Williams’ boyfriend, attacked him and forced him into his own van, driving to a spot underneath a bridge in Indianapolis.
King, 56, and Lehman, 21, called Opal Williams, and she told Steven Williams he should not have been sleeping with another woman, and told King and Lehman to “do it.” The men stabbed Steven Williams and slit his throat, then rolled him up in a carpet and left him near the bridge, according to police reports.
King and Lehman are set for trials in Marion County in April.
Next month, Opal Williams is set to return to court, where she will again be asked if she is agreeing to plead guilty to murdering Steven Williams. If she pleads guilty to murder, the conspiracy charge will be dropped, Marion County Judge Marc Rothenberg said.
In court this week, the judge asked Opal Williams to answer questions about the crime she had been charged with, including her involvement in the murder and whether she knew what King and Lehman were doing to Steven Williams. Opal Williams said she didn’t know what King and Lehman were doing. When the judge asked if she murdered Steven Williams, Opal Williams said she hadn’t.
Under the plea agreement, Opal Williams is pleading guilty to murder, so she has to agree with the charges as written, the judge said.
Now, she is set to return to court Feb. 12 after her attorney asked for more time to talk to Opal Williams about the plea agreement. Marion County Prosecutor Anne Frangos said she expects the agreement to stay the same.
