Cedar Rapids man sentenced to 25 years for trying to kill ex-girlfriend in 2022

CEDAR RAPIDS — A judge sentenced a Cedar Rapids man to 25 years in prison on Friday for attempting to kill his ex-girlfriend by slashing her throat and stabbing her twice in the back during an argument in 2022.

Nickie Ray Williams, 51, was found guilty by a jury in August of attempted murder and willful injury causing serious injury — both felonies — as well as domestic abuse assault with a dangerous weapon and use of a dangerous weapon in commission of a crime, both aggravated misdemeanors.

Williams faced up to 39 years in prison but 6th Judicial District Judge Christopher Bruns gave him concurrent sentences for a total of 25 years because of his age, back issues and because the judge believed he isn’t at risk to reoffend.

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Williams has a lengthy history of assaults — 13 in 30 years — one of those involved the same victim, Marquita Robertson Lee, 38, as in this case, and one previous victim was a minor child who he threatened to kill.

In this case, there was a no contact order in place against Williams.

Assistant Linn County Attorney Molly Edwards, during the hearing, argued for consecutive sentences because of the “extreme violence” of the crime on July 21, 2022. The slash to Robertson Lee’s throat exposed her larynx, and the stab injury that was life-threatening penetrated her lung. She spent 45 days in the hospital and had to have her left lung drained. Other medical care following her hospital stay, she noted.

“She thought she was going to die,” Edwards said. “The defendant thought she had died” and left the scene.

Edwards said after the no contact order was in place, Williams had threatened to kill the woman.

Nekeidra Tucker, Williams’ lawyer, asked the judge for concurrent sentences, arguing most of Williams’ criminal history involved him drinking alcohol. Williams isn’t the same person under the influence of alcohol.

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Tucker said Williams, as young man, had gone to college to play basketball and when his girlfriend got pregnant, he dropped out to help support her and raise a family. He has always helped others — friends and neighbors — anytime they needed help, even paying their bills and making sure they had a place to stay

Williams declined to make a statement during sentencing.

Robertson Lee didn’t attend the sentencing to make a victim impact statement.

Judge Bruns said Williams must serve 70 percent of the 25 years before being eligible for parole. He also granted a five year no-contact for the victim against Williams.

Trial included victim’s deposition in lieu of in-person testimony

Robertson Lee did not show up to testify and judge allowed Edwards to use Lee’s deposition at the trial in lieu of her in-person testimony.

Using a deposition at trial is a “fairly rare circumstance” in criminal cases because most witnesses are available, and many times not all witnesses have a deposition taken before trial, Edwards previously said.

There have been times in the past where a witness isn’t available and there is no transcript to read into the record, like in the recent Curtis Padgett case, Edwards noted following Williams’ conviction in August. In that first-degree murder case, prosecutors said Padgett confessed to three witnesses but they died before the trial.

In the deposition, Robertson Lee stated, “After he cut my neck I felt my blood just dripping down, it was warm, so I instantly grabbed it and then he switch hands with the knife. So now the knife is in his left hand and he’s still real close to me and he stabbed me in my left side. And I remember I could not breathe and then I felt like I was going to fall, but he was holding me up. And then he turned the knife and put it in his right hand and stabbed me on the right side and just let me fall.”

Robertson Lee’s deposition testimony was corroborated by Williams’ own 911 call, where he confessed to the dispatcher, “I stabbed Marquita Robertson,” Edwards said. It also was corroborated by the police investigation and medical testimony.

“Police responded to the scene and found her laying in the doorway to the residence with wounds that were actively bleeding,” Edwards said. “A knife with blood on it was on the ground near her feet.”

Robertson Lee had three wounds — one on her neck and two on her back, according to trial testimony. One of the wounds on her back caused a hemopneumothorax — air and blood in her chest cavity putting pressure around her lungs, causing her to have trouble breathing.

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