Within days of two men getting life sentences for a home-invasion robbery that left a 36-year-old Lincoln woman dead, a third learned he would get 55 years in federal prison for his role in the crime.
Dante Williams, 28, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting murder and two counts of attempted robbery for what happened July 31, 2018.Â
Early that morning, he and his brother, Damon Williams, and Tawhyne Patterson Sr. kicked in the front door of the home where Jessica Brandon and Michael Robertson lived.
The brothers went from room to room zip-tying Brandon's children, a friend and the girls' grandmother and taping their mouths shut as Patterson fired off 13 rounds into the stairwell, where Brandon, 36, suffered a fatal gunshot wound.
It was all a failed plot to steal marijuana and money from Robertson, who hid the drugs and money while Brandon's daughters called 911 and tried to save her.
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On Tuesday, Defense attorney Chad Wythers said Dante Williams played a role in an offense that resulted in the murder of an innocent victim.Â
"I genuinely believe ... that Dante Williams did not intend for anybody to get hurt that night," he said. "I don't know what he knew when he went into the house. I don't know that he knew somebody had a gun."
Wythers said Williams was simply following his brother, accepted responsibility for what he did, "and I think he is genuinely sorry for the events of that night."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Woods called the suggestion that Dante Williams didn't know the others had guns or that anyone would get hurt laughable.Â
She said it was controverted by video evidence, which showed him beside the others, who clearly had guns.Â
"What I have mostly heard is excuses," Woods said.Â
She said early July 31, 2018, when Brandon heard three intruders breaking into their Belmont home, she headed up to the main floor, where two of her kids and their grandmother were in their bedrooms.
Before Brandon could get to the girls, one of the would-be robbers, Patterson, unloaded his gun down the dark stairwell that headed to Brandon and Robertson's basement bedroom, hitting Brandon.
In February, a jury found Patterson and Damon Williams guilty of murder, two counts of attempted robbery and a firearms conspiracy for what happened. Dante Williams pleaded guilty on the eve of trial.Â
In court Tuesday, Brandon's daughter, Kyana, said regardless of Damon Williams' guilty plea, he deserves life in prison "to keep us and everyone else in Nebraska safe."
"These men came in and took a life for absolutely no reason. Got nothing out of it," she said. "He came into our home and chose to do the things that he did."
In the end, Chief U.S. District Judge John Gerrard told Williams that it was "absolutely predictable" that someone would be injured or killed.Â
Unlike his co-defendants, Williams hadn't been involved in home-invasion robberies before and didn't go in with a gun.
"But you did have zip ties and fully participated in tying up and restraining innocent victims, primarily teens and children, while Patterson's gun was literally blazing," Gerrard said.Â
And, he said, he hadn't heard one word from any of the three in the courtroom about remorse before handing down the sentence.Â
There is no parole in federal prison.Â
On June 24, he gave Patterson, 28, and Damon Williams, 29, life in prison on the murder charge, plus 20 years on the robbery and gun charges. Both were found guilty at trial.Â