In the winter of 2019, on the evening of December 17th, the life of 25-year-old Rudolpho James, a Black/African American male, was cut short in a violent home invasion in Oklahoma City. The tranquility of his residence, shared with his girlfriend Golda Morris and their young child, was shattered around 10:30 p.m. when two armed and masked intruders forcibly entered their home by kicking in the back door.
The assailants immediately demanded money, a demand that was met with terrified insistence from the couple that they had none.
The taller of the two intruders held Morris at gunpoint while the shorter man, later identified as Quaysean Tikii Williams, confronted James. In a moment of brutal violence, Williams fired two shots, one of which struck James, causing him to fall to the floor, mortally wounded. While James lay dying, Williams proceeded to search the house for marijuana, which he located in a cabinet under the sink. The intruders then fled the scene, leaving behind a scene of devastation and a life tragically lost.
The investigation into Rudolpho James's murder swiftly focused on Quaysean Tikii Williams and his girlfriend, Khala Sherie Lewis. A critical piece of information came from James's girlfriend, who informed detectives that Lewis was the only other person who knew where James kept his marijuana. This, coupled with GPS data from Lewis's car placing her at the scene of the crime and Morris's eventual identification of Williams from a photo lineup, led to their arrests just three days after the murder.
Quaysean Tikii Williams faced a litany of charges, including first-degree murder, robbery with a dangerous weapon, and conspiracy to commit a felony. He was subsequently tried by a jury, found guilty, and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder charge and an additional life sentence for conspiracy. Khala Sherie Lewis was charged with conspiracy to commit a felony for her role in the fatal home invasion.
