Jury hears closing arguments in trial of man accused of killing former cellmate | Courts

A jury is deliberating today on the fate of a local man accused of shooting his former cellmate in southeast Fort Wayne.

Sedrick Williams, 32, is charged with murder and an enhanced sentence for using a firearm in the death of 40-year-old Marlon Kimbrough on January 6, 2020. If convicted on both counts, he faces up to 85 years in prison.

According to the Allen County Coroner's Office, Kimbrough's death was ruled a homicide; the cause of death was gunshot wounds.

Kimbrough was found dead next to the railroad tracks west of Meyer Road and Oxford Street on January 7, 2020. The Indianapolis man had gunshot wounds to the back of the head and neck.

Deputy Attorney General Tom Chaille said in his closing argument today that Kimbrough was “brutally executed.”

Williams was originally charged in 2020, but the charges were dropped when a key witness was unavailable for the trial. He was charged again in 2023 after allegedly telling an inmate at Plainfield Correctional Facility that he killed Kimbrough because the man attacked him, according to an affidavit filed by Fort Wayne Detective Matthew Cline.

Williams confided in the inmate who testified during the trial and revealed too many details about Kimbrough's death, Chaille said.

“He described far too much,” he argued. “He gave him details of things as small as braids in his hair and things as big as the actual murder.”

Williams' attorney, Sean Arata, said the inmate was the facility's barber and it would be pointless for the defendant to have given him details. Arata also argued that another man was present when Kimbrough died and the state could not prove the other man did not kill Kimbrough.

“The state is asking you to flip a coin,” Arata told the jury. “It doesn't work that way. … The only thing that matters is who fired the gun.”

The jury’s decision is expected later today.