Man serving 50 years for ‘execution’ of Connecticut man gets new trial

Ernest Williams Jr., 24, of Montclair, left, looks toward his attorney, Sterling Kinsale, prior to being sentenced to 50 years in state prison in 2015 for the July 22, 2012 shooting death of Brian Schiavetti in Montclair. (Robert Sciarrino | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

Yesterday, Earnst Williams Jr., 27, was looking at at least another 40 years of prison time after being convicted of shooting a Connecticut man in the back of the head during a robbery attempt.

Today, the state's appellate court overturned his conviction and granted him a new trial.

Williams had appealed his conviction on an aggravated manslaughter charge in the 2012 slaying of 21-year-old Brian Schiavetti, arguing that the trial court hadn't let his attorney get into the details of past drug deals that would have supported his claim of self defense.

Evidence showed Schiavetti was wary about the secluded location for this deal as opposed to previous ones, and the court said it might have supported Williams' claim that the nervous buyer was the one who brought and pulled the gun.

Williams self-defense claim didn't sway a jury in 2015 -- perhaps partly because he testified in front of a large photograph of two bullet holes in the back of Schiavetti's head. Prosecutors at the time called it an execution.

Contacted Monday, a spokeswoman for the Essex County Prosecutor's Office said her office is considering challenging the appellate court ruling in front of the state's Supreme Court.

According to the decision and coverage of the 2015 trial, Schiavetti and Williams were connected by a mutual friend, James Pitts, who pleaded guilty to a drug charge and agreed to testify against Williams.

Pitts, who knew Schiavetti from Villanova University, had sold the Connecticut man drugs several times before July 2012, when he put Schiavetti in contact with Williams, the decision said.

The first deals occurred at Palisades Center Mall in West Nyack, New York, but Williams refused to meet there and insisted Schiavetti come to Montclair for the drug deal that would turn out to be fatal, the decision said.

Schiavetti and a friend drove the 90-minutes to Montclair and picked up Williams, driving him to a building where he said his girlfriend lived, though he admitted at trial it was a lie.

The friend testified that Schiavetti and Williams went in the building together and two gunshots followed soon after. He told the jury he drove away in a panic after Schiavetti didn't answer his cell phone.

Prosecutors alleged that Williams never had any drugs, and lured Schiavetti to the building with the intention of robbing him of the $900 he brought. Schiavetti was found with $500 in his pocket, and Williams' cousin told police she saw him counting $400 and overheard him talking about a robbery later that day. Other witnesses testified that Williams had said he planned to rob him from the start.

Williams testified that he retrieved the drugs inside the building and Schiavetti pulled the gun. He said they tussled and he bit Schiavetti on the hand before getting partial control of the gun and firing several times. He testified that he threw the gun away and sold the drugs, collecting the $400 from that sale, the decision said.

There was evidence of the bite, the decision said.

The appellate court said that there was evidence Schiavetti was nervous about the location for the transaction, including text messages, and the judge should have allowed Williams' attorney to cross-examine the friend about the way the past drug deals had gone down as part of that evidence.

The appellate court said the public nature of the past deals certainly doesn't prove Schiavetti brought the gun, but said Schiavetii's state of enhanced vigilance, stemming from the drug transaction out of public view, was somewhat supportive of the defense that [he] brought a gun to the sale."

The court also noted that the judge gave too much weight to Williams' extensive criminal record when sentencing him to 50 years in prison. That was after a jury convicted him of aggravated manslaughter and several other charges, but did not convict on the first-degree murder charge.

This story was updated to correct that Williams can only be retried on the charges of which he was previously convicted.

Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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