Defendant in murder trial removed from courtroom after outbursts during opening statements

Editor's note: The following contains graphic language and descriptions of a crime.

Before his trial was supposed to start, Jonathon Aubrey told the judge he would not sit with his defense attorneys and he wanted to represent himself.

The first-degree murder trial was scheduled to get started Wednesday morning after a day and a half of jury selection. Aubrey is accused of killing his on-again-off-again girlfriend Sheree Williams in 2016, who had a protective order against him at the time of her death.

Aubrey argued with 15th Judicial District Court Judge Scott Privat he should be allowed to represent himself because he wanted to “talk on (his) own behalf.”

“I did do a crime. I did f--- up some s----,” Aubrey said. “I didn’t first-degree murder her.”

Aubrey’s attorneys, Bruce Unangst and Alix Deschamp, said Monday in a pre-trial meeting they had non-existent contact with Aubrey in the past two years. And despite a sanity commission hearing declaring Aubrey competent to stand trial, they didn’t think he was competent.

Privat asked Aubrey about his basic understanding of how a trial works, if he could explain an objection or hearsay, and if he had reviewed all of the evidence.

“(Your attorneys) prepared. They reviewed the evidence. I know they tried to meet with you to go over the evidence, but you refused to meet,” Privat told Aubrey. “You have absolutely nothing prepared. You have looked at none of the evidence because you refused to meet with your attorneys and that was your choice.”

“You almost guarantee a conviction if you represent yourself,” Privat added.

Privat ruled that Aubrey was not competent enough to waive his representation and represent himself. He told Aubrey he could sit in the courtroom away from his defense attorneys but couldn’t interrupt the proceedings.

“This trail is not going to turn into a circus,” Privat said.

But almost as soon as 15th Judicial District Assistant Attorney Donald Knecht started his opening statements, Aubrey spoke out.

Privat told Aubrey he could only sit in the courtroom if he could sit quietly without interrupting. When Aubrey said he couldn’t do that, he was moved to a private room with video and audio connections so he could still watch the trial.

What happened to Sheree Williams?

Williams was strangled to death at a home on Conrad Street in north Lafayette either on July 31, 2016 or Aug 1, 2016. She was found under a bed by the woman who was renting the home, a relative of Aubrey’s, Deschamp said in opening statements for the defense.

Aubrey later told detectives he killed Williams, Knect told jurors during opening statements for the prosecution.

“This is not a difficult case,” he said.

But jurors will have to decide if Aubrey intentionally killed Williams while a protective order was in place - first-degree murder like the state argues - or killed her during an argument - manslaughter like the defense argues.

Deschamp told jurors in her opening statements that Williams was jealous that Aubrey wanted to get back together with the mother of his children. In that jealous state and while high on methamphetamine - 36 times the reporting limit - and cocaine, Williams grabbed two knives, Deschamp said.

Aubrey hit Williams in the face to get her to drop the knives, which he later put in her car. But she grabbed another knife the two continued to argue in the back bedroom where Wiliams died and was later found under a bed, Deschamp said.

Williams was strangled with an electrical cord with such force it broke both her hyoid and larynx bones, according to court documents.

“This is not a whodunit. It’s not even a how did he do it case. This is a why case,” Deschamp told jurors. “You’re trying to decide what kind of killing it is when someone comes at you with a knife on methamphetamine and cocaine and you decide to end their life.”

During the trial, which is expected to last a week, jurors will see the protective order that was in place and hear from witnesses including the woman who found Williams’ body, detectives who interviewed Aubrey and the forensic pathologist who conducted Williams’ autopsy.

Contact Ashley White at adwhite@theadvertiser.com or on Twitter @AshleyyDi.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Defendant removed from courtroom after outbursts during opening statements