Robert Wooten took the witness stand in his own murder trial and testified that he shot his ex-girlfriend, 30-year-old Meisha Williams, twice in the back while she stood in the bathroom of her luxury New Rochelle apartment, claiming he acted in self-defense. Wooten and Williams had dated but their relationship ended two years before the testimony, according to details reported by the Rockland/Westchester Journal News.
The killing happened at One Clinton Park, a 28-story, 352-unit luxury residential tower at 55 Clinton Place in downtown New Rochelle that opened in 2022, according to Ideally New Rochelle. Wooten's account of the shooting, laid out under oath, was detailed in reporting by the Journal News, whose crime reporter Jonathan Bandler covered the testimony as the trial stretched toward its second month.
Police say the shooting took place on August 24, 2024. That evening, the New Rochelle Police Department tracked Wooten to Queens and arrested him around 9:00 p.m. through a joint operation involving the NYPD's 103rd Precinct, the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, and the Westchester County Real Time Crime Center, per the Daily Voice's account of the arrest. Officers had initially responded to a report of a suspicious death at the apartment building before identifying Wooten as a suspect.
Grand Jury Charges and a Prior Conviction
A Westchester County grand jury indicted Wooten in September 2024 on two counts of second-degree murder, first-degree burglary, and multiple counts of criminal possession of a weapon, according to the Westchester County District Attorney's Office. He has remained remanded without bail at the Westchester County Jail since his indictment.
Pretrial filings showed Wooten had a prior weapons conviction in the Bronx, and that the burglary count alleges he unlawfully entered or remained in the apartment while armed, the same Journal News coverage noted in earlier reporting cited by Talk of the Sound. Prosecutors have indicated they plan to introduce garage surveillance footage as evidence at trial, according to the outlet's reporting.
A Trial Now in Its Fifth Week
The trial began on September 15, 2026, in Westchester County Court before Judge George E. Fufidio Jr., with Wooten represented by 18B assigned counsel attorney Angelo Gerard MacDonald, as detailed by Talk of the Sound. The case had earlier been overseen by Judge James A. McCarty III before being transferred to Judge Fufidio this past June.
By mid-October, the proceedings had entered their fifth calendar week following a string of adjournments, with Wooten held in custody throughout, the outlet reported. No verdict had been reached as the self-defense testimony unfolded.
What the Self-Defense Claim Must Overcome
Under New York Penal Law § 35.15, a justification defense allows deadly force only when a defendant reasonably believes it is necessary to stop imminent deadly force — and once that defense is raised, prosecutors carry the burden of disproving it beyond a reasonable doubt, according to Tilem & Associates, PC. A successful justification defense results in a full acquittal.
New York's law also imposes a duty to retreat, requiring a person to safely withdraw before using deadly force unless they are inside their own home and were not the initial aggressor, per the NYTAC Defense Blog. Wooten insisted the apartment was his home, although his name was not on the lease and he had not registered as an occupant, raising the question of whether he could have safely left instead of firing.
The burglary charge adds another layer of legal risk for the defense: if jurors conclude Wooten unlawfully entered or remained in Williams's apartment while armed, that finding alone could undermine any claim of justification by establishing he committed a forcible felony rather than acting as a lawful occupant defending himself.
A Regional Pattern Behind the Case
Westchester County operates a specialized Domestic Violence Bureau dedicated to prosecuting intimate partner crimes.
Reported domestic violence victimizations in Westchester County climbed to 26 per 10,000 residents in 2024, a 53% jump from a low of 17 per 10,000 in 2022, according to the Westchester Index. Researchers widely recognize that domestic violence statistics are undercounted, meaning the true scope of the trend may be even larger than the reported figures suggest.
