A Hamilton County Justice Center inmate already facing a long list of charges from a June chase on Interstate 75 is now accused of attacking his sleeping cellmate with a pencil, punching him and slamming his head against a metal bed frame hard enough to knock him out. Adamu Qura’n Chance Williams faces new charges of felonious assault and tampering with evidence tied to the Oct. 9 incident.
According to WKRC, Williams attacked cellmate Cody Wayne Dean while Dean was asleep at the jail. A court affidavit alleges Williams repeatedly stabbed Dean in the head and face with a green pencil before punching him and slamming his head against the frame of the metal bed, temporarily knocking him unconscious.
Investigators say Williams then tried to cover his tracks. He allegedly removed Dean’s bloodied jail uniform and bedsheets, stuffed them into a plastic bag and discarded the bag in a common garbage area, according to the station's report. Williams was scheduled to be arraigned Thursday morning on the new charges.
A Pending Case From a June Highway Chase
Williams was already in custody over a separate case from June, when he is accused of assaulting, kidnapping and threatening to kill his girlfriend before leading police on a pursuit along Interstate 75, per the same account. He faces 19 charges in that case. Reports on his bond amount differ: WKRC reported it was set at $765,000, while FOX19 reported he was initially held on a total bond of $770,000.
FOX19 also reported that Williams later faced 27 total counts in Hamilton County after being indicted on 25 charges and receiving two additional ones, and that Common Pleas Court Judge Christian Jenkins ordered a review of his competency. Those developments stem from the June case and are separate from the new assault and tampering charges filed over the jailhouse attack on Dean.
A Second Alleged Jailhouse Attack This Year
The allegations against Williams echo another case at the same facility earlier this year. FOX19 reported that Daesha Smartt, 29, of Roselawn, was charged with attempted murder and later indicted on felonious assault after an alleged April 14 fight with her cellmate at the Hamilton County Justice Center. An affidavit in that case alleged Smartt struck the victim with her hands and stabbed her in the head with a colored pencil, then placed a plastic garbage bag over the victim's head while threatening to kill her. That victim was hospitalized with severe injuries to the face, back and ears, according to the outlet's reporting.
Ohio's tampering with evidence statute, under Section 2921.12 of the Ohio Revised Code, covers altering, destroying, concealing or removing a record, document or thing with the purpose of impairing its value or availability as evidence. That is the statute underlying the new charge against Williams tied to the discarded uniform and bedsheets.
