Sentencing is set for this afternoon for a Columbia man convicted of murdering a woman by throwing her to her death from a Highway 63 overpass near the Clark lane Bob Evans.
A Boone County jury deliberated for a few hours in May before convicting 33-year-old Jessie Williams of second degree murder, which means he’ll be eligible for parole after serving at least 85 percent of his sentence. Williams was charged with first degree murder in the horrific murder, which happened in October 2022.
939 the Eagle News covered the May trial at the Boone County Courthouse. Boone County assistant prosecutor Susan Boresi told the jury in May that 24-year-old Kaylen Ann Schmit’s liver was split open from her 38-foot fall and that she also suffered fractured ribs. The jury also heard from two Columbia Police detectives.
Williams was paroled from prison in August 2022, less than two months before Schmit’s murder.
Williams, who is now incarcerated at the Southeast Correctional Center in Charleston for the previous assault convictions that he was paroled for, will be sentenced at 1:30 this afternoon by Boone County Circuit Judge Brouke Jacobs. Williams faces a possible life prison sentence, but he will be eligible for parole.
