'The devil gave you a shovel to dig your own grave,' mom says to son's killer in courtroom poem

In a Mecklenburg courtroom already replete with anger and tears, Raphael Williams pored over a piece of white paper, scribbling out what he planned to say to his son's killer.

For much of Thursday morning — the one day set aside in procedural court each month for the county's homicide cases — Williams was surrounded by loss.

Immediately behind him, the loved ones of Nia Hantzopoulos filled an entire row as they awaited the court appearance of her accused killer, Humberto Mendoza. Many were in tears by the time Mendoza pleaded not guilty to a first-degree murder charge.

A few rows further, two men counted down the minutes for the arrival of murder defendant Michael Smith. When Smith entered in shackles, the man nearest the center aisle struggled to get to his feet as his companion tried to hold him back.

"Coward," the big man said mockingly as Smith stared and a deputy approached from the rear. "You're going to be famous one day, coward."

In contrast to the outburst, Williams spent his courtroom time largely in silence, making notes over what he would soon say to Andre Young-Johnson, the 21-year-old Charlotte man accused of murdering Williams' son, Julian.

On a page of scribbled lines, one statement stood out. "You have torn our life apart," Williams had written.

Last May, Julian Williams, 35, was found dead in his uptown apartment. Prosecutors announced in court that he had been bound and strangled. The next day, according to prosecutors, Young-Johnson showed up at work driving Williams' Lexus. Prosecutors said Young-Johnson had started a load of laundry at his victim's apartment and did not leave until it was dry.

On Thursday, Young-Johnson accepted a second-degree murder plea offer that would send him to prison for at least 20 years. If convicted of first-degree murder at trial, the defendant faced a life in prison without parole.

Before announcing whether he would accept the plea offer, Superior Court Judge Bob Bell gave the victim's parents a chance to speak.

In the sleepless aftermath of her son's death, Vanessa Williams Brown told the judge that she had written a poem that she now wanted to read aloud. It was directed at her son's killer. She did not offer forgiveness. Instead she hoped Young-Johnson found his rightful place in "an everlasting hell."

"Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord," she said in a quiet voice. "But you don't know the Lord. You know the devil who gave you a shovel to dig your own grave."

Given his chance to speak, Raphael Williams walked to the front of the courtroom with the help of a cane and unfolded the piece of white paper and stared at what he had written. He pointed to his chest. His son's death had left a hole, he told the judge.

"Taking someone else's life doesn't make sense," he told Bell, before saying out loud what he had written down. "This has torn our lives apart."

Defense attorney Mark Foster told Bell that his client was a high school graduate with no previous criminal record. He said Young-Johnson's initial statement to police would have been inadmissible because Young-Johnson had asked for an attorney and had not gotten one, even as detectives continued their questioning.

While he described Williams' death as "very tragic," Foster told Bell that his client maintains that the killing occurred when Young-Johnson was defending himself from Williams' attack.

Young-Johnson spoke last. He did not apologize or utter regret. Instead, he urged anyone facing incarceration to "research the law" and participate in their own defense.

"I could have won this case," he told the courtroom. Instead, he said, he accepted the "small victory" of the plea bargain.

When he left the courtroom with two deputies, the convicted killer was chanting or singing something as the door closed behind him.

Back in their seats, Julian Williams' parents got up to leave. For a moment, they looked at each other in what appeared to be disbelief.

This story was originally published March 22, 2018 at 4:20 PM with the headline "'The devil gave you a shovel to dig your own grave,' mom says to son's killer in courtroom poem."