BTL Staff
DETROIT – On Feb. 22, Steven Williams, Jr. was ordered to stand trial in Wayne County Circuit Court on charges of attempted murder in the shooting of Salvagio Vonatti, who was shot in the head near Gigi's, a Detroit gay bar, on Jan. 10.
During testimony by the main witness the suspect made a threatening gesture toward the witness – moving his finger across his throat – which many, including Judge C. Lorene Royster, took to be troubling enough to make note of it for the official record of the hearing.
The witness, Desmond Caine, testified to, among other things, being with the 17-year-old suspect when the two saw Vonatti. According to Caine, Williams said, "Look at this queer, this faggot," referring to Vonatti. Next, according to Caine, Williams pulled a gun from his coat pocket and shot Vonatti in the face.
Caine described the victim as a white male, saying that he couldn't identify him further because he wouldn't look at gay guys.
In the end, Williams was bound over and his cash bond was increased from $100,000 to $500,000.
Sean Kosofsky and Jeffrey Montgomery of the Triangle Foundation joined Vonatti's brother and father in the courtroom.
"This was a good result at this point in the process," said Kosofsky, Triangle's director of policy. "The significant bond increase certainly shows that the court is taking this case, and this defendant, very seriously."
Montgomery, Triangle's executive director, said, "I was stunned when I saw the defendant make the 'slit-your-throat' gesture. We're just lucky that the judge observed the same thing and made it part of the record."
Williams will next be arraigned in Wayne County Circuit Court on March 1 in the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in Detroit.
"The Wayne County Prosecutor's office has been very aggressive in this case and we have every confidence that they will prevail in this case and some sense of justice will be achieved for Sal and his family," Montgomery said.
Vonatti, a Canadian, is recovering, although he remains in a coma in a Windsor hospital. A Feb. 23 Detroit Free Press story quoted Vonatti's family as saying that his physicians aren't sure if he will regain consciousness.
