Lawyer seeks jurors who can see past murder suspect’s face tattoos: ‘That’s the first thing you see with him’

The defense attorney for a murder suspect is seeking jurors who won’t negatively judge his client for tattoos which cover his entire face.

One of Jarvis Antwine’s first questions to a panel of 14 prospective jurors was about William Bottoms Jr.’s plethora of face tattoos. A majority of the panel said they had no issue with the defendant’s tattoos, with a man calling them “a personal choice,” according to The Advocate.

“That’s the first thing you see with him,” the defense attorney said of his client’s tattoos.

Bottoms, 29, is charged with second-degree murder for the July 2017 shooting deaths of Dedrick Dewayne Williams, 23, and Mohamed Sead Hussain, 29, who were found dead in a car in Grangeville. Williams and Hussain were shot in the head and their bodies were covered with a sheet, according to the news outlet.

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The murder suspect’s girlfriend, Megan Marie Gaylord, 29, reportedly told investigators she was driving as Bottoms and the two men used drugs in the car. Gaylord said Bottoms, the front seat passenger, grew paranoid and fatally shot the victims as they sat in the backseat.

Citing an arrest warrant, The Advocate reported that Gaylord drove to Bottoms’ home so he could get bleach to remove fingerprints and evidence from the car. He allegedly also retrieved the sheet which was used to cover William and Hussain’s bodies.

Bottoms and Gaylord were said to have driven the bodies to Grangeville and abandoned the vehicle.

Authorities initially charged Gaylord as an accessory to the murders but dropped the charges in May 2018. The Advocate reported that she’s expected to testify against her boyfriend in his upcoming trial.

Earlier this year, Bottoms’ equally-tattooed twin brother was reportedly killed in a shootout with Mississippi police. The Clarion Ledger reported that Hancock County police were serving an out-of-state warrant to Lawrence Bottoms, 29, for being a felon in possession of a gun. Deputies reportedly shot Lawrence Bottoms after he brandished a shotgun during a brief on-foot chase.

Lawerence Bottoms had a 2017 aggravated assault conviction for stabbing a teen in the face with a screwdriver. The teen reportedly died three months after the April 2015 attack.

Fox News reported that a woman with three tattoos was not selected as a juror. Testimony for William Bottoms Jr.’s murder trial is scheduled to begin on Wednesday.

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[Featured image: Williams Bottoms Jr./East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office]