Ties to unrelated killingĪmong the witnesses scheduled to testify Thursday are Dustin Kelley and his father, Paul Kelley, the brother and father of Dexter Kelley, a Meridian native currently held on a murder charge in the beating death of his cousin, Cliff Allyn, 16.
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In addition, Lawrence said the release of such testimony to the public before the trial would affect the ability to find an impartial jury for Vallum’s trial. Lawrence argues the testimony is expected to be “sensitive in nature” and could possibly expose the witnesses to possible “intimidation, threats or physical harm.” In Lawrence’s motion asking a judge to keep secret Thursday’s testimony from gang members, Lawrence said prosecutors expect the witnesses to go into detail about their knowledge of Vallum’s relationship with Williamson. Court records say she died between May 30 and June 2, 2015, and a deputy said Vallum admitted to “killing a person known as Mercedes.”Ībout a month after the murder, Williamson’s killing made national headlines when Caitlyn Jenner remembered her during an acceptance speech for the 2015 Arthur Ashe Award at the ESPY Awards. Investigators used DNA samples to identity her. George County deputies found Williamson’s partially decomposed body buried under some brush on Vallum’s father’s property. Vallum told authorities he beat Williamson with a hammer while the two were in Vallum’s car on his father’s property. Vallum, 28, has remained jailed since June 2, 2015, a day after he told his father he’d killed someone and buried the body in a field behind Vallum’s father’s home in the Rocky Creek community. The judge will ultimately decide whether their testimony and the testimony of others will be allowed at trial. The hearing is in George County Circuit Court.
Vallum, prosecutors said, had the gang’s documentation at one time but refused to turn the information over to authorities. Other evidence prosecutors want is a history of the gang, its bylaws, structure, membership list, the culture of the gang, its rules and discipline, and any action it takes and laws it has regarding homosexual activity along with financial documentation and other gang-related documentation. In addition, prosecutors are asking for approval to subpoena gang documentation from Vallum and other gang members who have refused to cooperate.
District Attorney Tony Lawrence says the gang members are expected to testify about Vallum’s specific gang activity and their knowledge of his relationship with the victim.
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