CHAPTER 15
Anne had soured on the idea of the dating game: the notion that some guy took you out to eat, maybe to a movie and a romantic walk, and because of that, he deserved a romp in the sack. Anne was not into that sort of hookup culture. She wanted to meet a nice guy, and she wanted to believe that true love existed in the world. Only problem was, she had little evidence to back it up.
After my previous husband and the incident with Jimmy, I was divorced for fifteen years and had not dated for eleven. I got so sick of that same old crap. So I just stayed away from the dating game.
One day I was thinking about my college years and I was looking for one of my friends on Facebook. Well, I was friends with her brother, so I decided to reach out to him, even though I barely remembered him. I did, however, recall that every time I saw him, he always spoke to me honestly and humbly and nicely, and that he had the sweetest smile. Anyway, I contacted Tom Johnson and we wound up talking for hours and hours. I knew he was a good man before I ever talked to him because his reputation preceded him.
He was in Missouri, but a month later he moved here to Alabama. He treats me like a queen. He is always there for me. He loves my family like his own. . . . I finally found a man who respects who I am and that I do have a brain, and someone who always tells me how beautiful I am and how much he loves me. I can’t ask for much more in life.
Jimmy Williams was indicted in August 1999 under an assault charge that claimed he “did, with intent to cause serious physical injury to another person, cause serious physical injury to [Anne] Bridges, by means of a deadly weapon, or a dangerous instrument, to-wit: a shotgun. . . .”
The charge was Assault I. Jimmy, then thirty-eight years old, pleaded not guilty.
It took another eight months before Jimmy saw the inside of a courtroom and jury. But on April 5, 2000, nearly two years after the incident, Jimmy was found guilty after the jury deliberated just forty-five minutes.
Jimmy’s attorney argued that Anne had told different stories during the three-day trial, and the prosecution had a terrible lack of evidence to support any of it.
The jury, obviously, believed differently. On June 28, 2000, James “Jimmy” Williams Jr. was sentenced to ten years behind bars (with the credit for the two years he’d been in jail since his arrest), ordered to pay $4,551.76 in restitution, all the costs of the case, and a whopping $50 to probably the most important institution within it all: the Alabama Crime Victims Compensation Commission.
Jurors were given the opportunity to find Jimmy guilty of Assault One or Assault Two, and as those in law enforcement had suspected all along, they chose the lesser, Assault One.
The verdict and sentence were upsetting to Anne.
I definitely do not think Jimmy was punished sufficiently. He hurt not just me, but so many others in my life. I never did anything to cause this act of pure violence. Not one cruel word came from my lips, nor one cruel act. I just wanted to go home—leave his house that night.
I did not receive notice of his sentencing hearing in time to get there, so my voice went unheard—imagine, my voice, the one that counts. How could they have given someone a mere ten years for attempting to kill another human being?