Jury deliberates in case of man who tried to snatch Watauga girl

A Tarrant County jury began deliberating Wednesday morning in the case of a 50-year-old Fort Worth man who is accused of trying to abduct an 11-year-old girl walking home from school in Watauga.

James Earl Williams Sr. is on trial on charges of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated kidnapping with intent to terrorize. Prosecutors say he trolled northeast Tarrant County neighborhoods seeking young victims last year.

On April 13, 2015, Amber Hewitt told police she was grabbed around the neck by a man while she was walking home in the 6100 block of Nelson Terrace. He tried to force her into his black Mercedes, police have said.

Amber, who has a black belt in karate, fought her way free and ran to her home about 100 yards away. When Amber got inside, she hugged her mother and then called 911. She had a chipped tooth, a busted lip and was bleeding, police said.

During closing arguments Wednesday, prosecutor Randi Hartin said Williams slammed Amber’s head against his 2002 Mercedes hard enough to dent the metal as he tried to force her into the car.

Defense attorney Pam Hernandez argued that witnesses never positively identified her client as the person who tried to abduct Amber, and she said there is no physical evidence tying Williams to the crime.

Second defense attorney Zach Ferguson told the jury during his closing arguments that the state had the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that their client was guilty of this offense.

“We know there is sympathy for Amber and what happened to her,” Ferguson said. “It's never been a crime to drive a black car through a neighborhood and the state is trying to make it a crime for a black man to drive a black car through a neighborhood.”

But Hartin countered that this case is not about black and white, it’s about a child predator.

“Ignoring that racism does exist in our community today would be an offensive argument,” Hartin said. “But arguing that racism has anything to do with this case, simply because we have a black defendant and a white victim, is equally offensive.”

Williams remained in the Tarrant County Jail Wednesday with $50,000 bail.

Williams was first arrested on unrelated warrants issued in another town.

This includes information from Star-Telegram archives.

This story was originally published October 5, 2016 at 5:51 PM with the headline "Jury deliberates in case of man who tried to snatch Watauga girl."