Tarshia Williams displays a pendant with her daughter's face on it outside of a federal courthouse in Honolulu on Thursday, April 24, 2014. A federal jury convicted the girl's father, former Hawaii soldier Naeem Williams, of murder in the beating death of the 5-year-old girl, a capital offense in a state that doesn't have the death penalty. (AP Photo/Sam Eifling)
April 24, 2014 - 2:40 PM
HONOLULU, Hawaii - A federal jury has convicted a former Hawaii soldier of murder in the beating death of his 5-year-old daughter.
Jurors in Honolulu found Naeem Williams guilty Thursday on all of five counts. Besides Murder, Williams was charged with aiding murder, conspiracy, obstruction of justice and making false statements.
His lawyers had argued that while Williams beat his daughter Talia Williams, it's unclear whether he caused her July 2005 death.
The conviction means Williams' trial on Tuesday moves to a penalty phase in which jurors will be asked to decide whether to sentence him to death.
Hawaii doesn't have the death penalty because the state abolished capital punishment in 1957. But Williams is being tried in the federal system because the crime occurred on military property.
News from © The Associated Press, 2014