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Witnesses begin testifying in Sean Williams' child porn trial

The trial gets underway just a day after Williams signed a plea agreement and changed his mind at the last second.

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. — A man accused of child rape is set to stand trial in a federal courtroom in Greeneville Wednesday after a whirlwind of events during several hearings.

Sean Williams faces three federal charges of enticing minors into sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of manufacturing child pornography. The case has been delayed several times as Williams has gone through four other attorneys. 

Jury selection wrapped up Tuesday. Opening statements started Wednesday morning and the first several witnesses have been called. 

Those first witnesses were all members of the Western Carolina University Police Department who seized hard drives from Williams car in April 2023. According to their testimony, they recovered several hard drives and thumb drives with thousands of pornographic images and videos of children and adults. 

They were able to determine the adults in the videos and pictures, who appeared to be unconscious, were the three mothers of the three child victims in the case. One of the victims was just 9 months old.  

An FBI agent who analyzed the evidence also testified. He said all of the images and video were meticulously organized in folders that included victims names and what was being depicted in the videos. One folder was called "All sleep," which contained imagery of the woman unconscious.  

Some of the evidence was shown to the jury, who grimaced at the sight of the graphic imagery. Those women are expected to testify. The government says they were drugged and had no recollection of any assault. 

Agents said they were able to identify Williams because he has a tattoo and scar on his hand that are visible in the pictures.  

According to WCYB, Williams signed a plea agreement Tuesday then changed his mind at the last second. If he had taken the deal, he would have served 55 years in prison, with no parole. During the hearing, Williams admitted to taking some pornographic photos of children. According to court documents, evidence includes images and videos of Williams sexually abusing 64 different women and at least five children.

Back in July, a jury found Williams guilty of escaping a prisoner transport van by kicking out the window. He was caught in Florida a month later.

He was also offered a plea deal in that case but changed his mind because he didn’t like the wording. Williams represented himself in the trial. He’s expected to be sentenced Nov. 18.

A federal lawsuit claims Johnson City police officers took thousands of dollars from Williams in exchange for obstructing efforts to investigate allegations that he was sexually assaulting multiple women for years. The police department has denied any wrongdoing.

Williams also awaits trial on state charges including child rape, aggravated sexual battery and especially aggravated sexual exploitation.

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