A Maine prisoner has pleaded guilty to murder in the death of his cellmate three years ago.

Carl Williams, 41, was indicted in June 2022 on one count of murder in connection with the death of Renaldo Jones.

A corrections officer was making his rounds the morning of Jan. 17, 2022, when he heard Williams knocking on his cell window, Assistant Attorney General Bud Ellis said in court Tuesday. Williams had told the officer that his cellmate needed help.

Jones was lying on the floor unconscious, Ellis said. He was brought to a hospital, where Ellis said he was diagnosed with having a severe brain injury. Jones had been hospitalized for more than four months and died May 10, 2022, a few days after being placed on hospice.

Had the case gone to trial, Ellis said they would have proven Williams assaulted Jones, using blood splatter analysis, testimony from the medical examiner and Jones’ medical records.

“Do you disagree in any significant way with what he said happened?” Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy asked Williams after Ellis laid out their case.

“No,” Williams said.

“And are you pleading to this charge because you are guilty of this charge?”

“Yeah,” Williams said.

Williams, who was still in custody, was scheduled for jury trial this week and was in court Monday for jury selection. A dozen jurors and two alternates had been told to return Tuesday morning for opening statements.

Williams’ attorney Henry Griffin said in court that his client told him that morning that he wanted to plead and that he believed this was in Williams’ best interest.

Over the last three years, Williams has gone in and out of competency, Maine’s legal standard for whether or not someone can understand and participate in the court process and their defense. He hasn’t shown up for multiple hearings. His defense attorney remarked in a pre-trial hearing Aug. 27 that he hadn’t been able to reach Williams, even with help from prison staff.

Jones had one year left at the Windham prison on a theft conviction when he was assaulted. His family previously told the Portland Press Herald that Jones was looking forward to getting out and starting fresh. 

Williams has been serving a couple of different sentences simultaneously, including a four-year sentence for deliberately hitting a pickup truck in Penobscot County.