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Amanda Williams’ Fiancé, Charged with her Murder · Murder Files Unsealed

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Okay, So we're diving into a case today and it's
• 0:02
  got everyone asking was it self defense? This is about
• 0:06
  the death of Amanda Williams.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Right.
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  Speaker 1: She was a hairstylist in Cleveland, very loved in her community,
• 0:12
  and she was shot in her own home. Yeah, and
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  now her fiance, Terrell Edwards, he's saying he had to
• 0:18
  protect himself. But prosecutors, they aren't buying it.
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  Speaker 2: Not so fast.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: They're talking premeditation. We've got all these news articles you sent,
• 0:27
  and we're going to try to make sense of it
• 0:29
  all right, the different stories, what the law says, even
• 0:32
  how the community is fighting for justice for Amanda.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: And you know, we can't talk about this case without
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  mentioning the standard ground law in Ohio. That's going to
• 0:41
  be huge moving forward.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely. Okay, So to even understand what that law
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  means here, we have to go back to October ninth.
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  What happened that night.
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  Speaker 2: Well, the shooting happened late that night. Edwards called the
• 0:53
  police himself, and since they took him in, you know,
• 0:56
  standard procedure, But then they let him go while they
• 0:59
  looked at to everything further.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: And it was weeks later, right that a grand jury
• 1:04
  decided to indict him. They actually went with aggravated murder charges.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: That's really important, you see, Yah, aggravated murder. It's not
• 1:12
  just saying it was murder. It means they think he
• 1:14
  planned this, that it wasn't some heat of the moment thing.
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  That changes how much time he might face if they
• 1:20
  convict him.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Wow, okay, so what kind of evidence would they even
• 1:24
  use to try to prove that.
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  Speaker 2: Well, they're going to look at everything. Why would he
• 1:27
  do this, what was he doing just before it happened,
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  anything that doesn't match up with this self defense story
• 1:33
  he's telling. It's a high bar to clear aggravated murder.
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  They have to show it was intentional, thought out, not
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  just a reaction in a scary situation.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: It's crazy, right, It's like we're hearing two totally different things.
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  On one side, you've got Edwards and he's saying it
• 1:48
  was self defense, like he had no other choice, right,
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  And he even says, hey, I talked to the police.
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  I cooperated, Like that proves he didn't do anything wrong.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: See, and that's where it gets tricky. Cooperating It looks good, sure,
• 2:00
  but it doesn't mean someone's innocent.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Right.
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  Speaker 2: The prosecutors. They're probably thinking that was Edward's trying to
• 2:05
  get ahead of everything, make himself look better.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean, Especially with what Williams's family
• 2:09
  is saying. The articles mentioned them, and they're pastor too,
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  They're all saying there was abuse, that this wasn't the
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  first time things had gotten bad. They even say they've
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  got photos, texts like proof.
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  Speaker 2: Wow. Okay, if that's true, that changes how this whole
• 2:24
  standard ground thing works.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: So how does it work exactly? What does that law
• 2:28
  even mean?
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  Speaker 2: Basically, it means if you feel like you're in serious danger,
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  like someone's about to hurt you really badly or even
• 2:35
  kill you, you don't have to try to run away first.
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  You can fight back.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, But but and it's a big butt.
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  Speaker 2: It's not like you could just shoot someone and say
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  I was scared. You have to be able to show
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  what you were afraid of was reasonable given the situation,
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  and then the way you fought back it has to
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  match the level of danger you were in.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: So, if there really was abuse, like Williams's family is saying,
• 2:58
  how does that change things?
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  Speaker 2: It means she might have felt scared even if Edwards
• 3:03
  wasn't doing anything right that second, like if she had
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  been abused before, she'd be more likely to think it
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  was going to happen again, and that fear is justifiable,
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  makes sense.
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  Speaker 1: And what about this other stuff, the photos and texts
• 3:13
  the pastor mentioned, Can they really use that on court?
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  Speaker 2: It all depends, you know, what's in them. Are they
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  real texts and photos? They can be big though, if
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  they back up the abuse claims, or if they show
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  Edward saying something different than what he's saying. Now, that's huge.
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  Of course, the prosecutor's got to prove those texts are
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  really from him, that the photos are real and they're
• 3:35
  connected to the case all that. But yeah, if they
• 3:37
  can do that, that could really hurt Edward's case.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: So they're not just focused on the shooting itself. They're
• 3:43
  looking at the bigger picture of what was going on
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  between them exactly.
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  Speaker 2: It's like putting a puzzle together. They're trying to see
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  if there was a reason for him to do this,
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  a pattern of behavior, anything that shows what he said
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  about self defense isn't true.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: You know, it's a lot right to think about proving
• 3:59
  something like self defense, especially with this standard ground law.
• 4:03
  What do prosecutors even look for.
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  Speaker 2: It's not easy, that's for sure. They basically have to
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  convince a jury that the person holding the gun in
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  this case, Edwards, that he wasn't really afraid for his life,
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  that he didn't have to shoot.
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  Speaker 1: And that's hard to do, right, to get inside someone's.
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  Speaker 2: Head like that, exactly. They're looking for holes in his story,
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  anything he said that doesn't match up with like the
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  physical evidence. Maybe someone saw something or there's something in
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  his past that contradicts this hole I had to protect
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  myself thing.
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  Speaker 1: And it's interesting, right because at first they didn't think
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  there was enough to charge him, then they did all
• 4:39
  this investigating, and now they're saying it's aggravated murder.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's huge. It means something came up, something that
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  made them doubt his story enough to take it to
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  a whole other level, maybe new evidence, or maybe they
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  found something that just didn't add up with what he
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  said at the beginning.
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  Speaker 1: So it's more than just that one night. They're trying
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  to figure out what else was.
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  Speaker 2: Going on totally, and remember a g jury, a whole
• 5:00
  group of people they already looked at the case and said, yeah,
• 5:03
  we think there's enough here to go to trial. That
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  doesn't automatically mean he's guilty, but it means the evidence
• 5:08
  was strong enough for them to say, let's keep going
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  with this. Liter jury decide it's just so.
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  Speaker 1: Sad all around. Even if they find him guilty, it
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  won't bring Amanda back, her family, her friends. They're the
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  ones going through the real loss.
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  Speaker 2: That's the thing about the justice system, right It's there
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  to try to hold people accountable, but it can't fix everything.
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  It can't take away the pain of losing someone. This case,
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  it's really complicated, but it shows just how hard it
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  is to figure out what really happened in these domestic
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  violence situations, and it shows how important it is to
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  investigate thoroughly, to look at everything, not just jump to conclusions.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: You've given us a lot to think about, that's for sure.
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  We've been talking about how hard these cases are to
• 5:49
  figure out. What do you think this case says about
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  the system itself.
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  Speaker 2: I think it shows us what works and what doesn't.
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  You've got the grand jury, regular people taking time to
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  look at the facts and make it this decision. You've
• 6:00
  got the police and lawyers. They're not just letting it go.
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  They're going back, digging deeper. When they need to. But
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  it also shows us that justice takes time, and sometimes
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  even when you get it, it doesn't feel like enough.
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  It doesn't heal the hurt.
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  Speaker 1: Well said, and to everyone listening, thank you for being
• 6:17
  here with us as we try to untangle this incredibly
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  sad and complicated case. If there's one thing to take
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  away from this deep dive, it's that the truth is
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  important even when it's hard to find. Keep asking questions,
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  look at the information out there, and let's keep talking
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  about these issues because these are conversations that need to
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  happen