The man accused of the stabbing death of a priest in northeast Nebraska last month has been bound over for trial after a preliminary hearing in county court.
43-year old Kierre Williams will continue being held without bond until he is arraigned in district court early next month on 1st-degree murder and weapons charges.
Prosecutors have not decided yet whether to seek the death penalty for the murder of 65-year old Father Stephen Gutgsell.
Washington County Judge Edward Matney ruled there was probable cause for the murder case to proceed to trial after testimony the sheriff’s deputy who was the first to arrive on the scene at the rectory of St John the Baptist Catholic Church in Fort Calhoun
Deputy Brady Tucker testified that he found Williams lying crossways on top of Gutgsell, whose face was covered with blood. Williams complied with commands to show his hands and get off the priest, and he was quickly taken into custody.
Williams didn’t have a weapon when he was arrested, but investigators later found a broken knife lying in the middle of a blood stain on the floor of Father Gutgsell’s bedroom.
Prosecutors say there doesn’t appear to be any connection between Father Gutgsell and Williams, who has an extensive criminal history with felony convictions in other states. He was working in a meatpacking plant in Sioux City at the time of the murder.
As for the church left without a priest, the Archdiocese of Omaha says St John the Baptist will, for now, share a priest based in nearby Blair who also serves Takama. Daily Mass will rotate between the three churches during the week.