The lawyer for a man facing a murder charge over a killing last year in Charleston will have to find a new lawyer, a Kanawha County judge ruled last week, as his lawyer also represents the man's brother, a potential witness in the case.
South Charleston lawyer Mark Plants can no longer represent Antonio Carnell Williams, 25, who is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Shannon Cade on Jan. 1, 2015, an order signed by Kanawha Circuit Judge Charles King on Thursday states.
King directs Williams to obtain new counsel because Plants also represents Williams' brother, Tequan Pratt.
Pratt faces unrelated drug charges and, according to Plants, wasn't being considered by prosecutors as a witness in their case against Williams until earlier this month.
The brothers signed waivers saying they know Plants represents them both and they are OK with it, according to Plants.
Plants, who was removed as Kanawha's prosecuting attorney three years ago, also says that he called the state Office of Disciplinary Counsel about the case. With the waivers from the men, lawyers with the ODC say there's no conflict, he said.
The ODC and Plants are awaiting a decision by the state Supreme Court on whether Plants' law license will be suspended after he faced a misdemeanor domestic battery charge while in office.
In early April, Assistant Kanawha Prosecutor Maryclaire Akers offered Pratt a deal to resolve his charges, which he refused. The deal would have required him to testify against his brother at trial.
That's when Akers asked that Plants remove himself from one of the cases, citing possible conflicts.
Plants fired Akers in 2013 but she was rehired, after Plants' removal, by Prosecuting Attorney Charles Miller.
King agreed with Akers and wrote in his order that the dual representation "is both an actual conflict and creates the potential for further serious conflict."
Continued representation will provide grounds for one or both of the men to one day have their potential convictions overturned, the judge wrote.
Williams has faced a murder charge in Cade's death since his arrest in Morgantown on Jan. 6, 2016.
His trial has been continued several times. King said last week he would wait until he ruled on the disqualification motion to set another date.
Cade was shot while sitting at a kitchen table, late at night in a house on the 800 block of Mathews Avenue, according to a criminal complaint filed in Kanawha County Magistrate Court. He died the day at after the shooting at an area hospital.
A 14-year-old girl also was shot in the house. She was shot in the head, according to the criminal complaint, but sustained minor wounds.
Williams' arrest stemmed from a tip police received from an eyewitness, Williams' girlfriend, who said she was with Williams at the time of the shooting.
Police have said they don't believe Cade was the intended target of the shooting.
Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-2823 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.