jashua williams.JPG

Jashua Williams (right) stands next to his lawyer Dan Magill. To the left is Senior Assistant District Attorney Melinda McGunnigle.

(Douglass Dowty | ddowty@syracuse.com)

Saleina McClain, who was A'Nickalus Hill's fiancee, in the hallway after speaking in court.

Syracuse, NY -- An emotional woman today said she couldn't believe stupid slang -- Deez Nuts -- led to the death of her fiance.

Jashua Williams, 32, was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for murdering A'Nickalus Hill over the slang term "Deez Nuts." Judge Anthony Aloi found him guilty in a bench trial after Williams gave up his right to a jury.

Williams decided to shoot his new roommate because Hill complained about Williams using the term Deez Nuts in front of a child, prosecutors said.

Around that time, Deez Nuts was a popular slang term on social media and spawned a fake presidential candidate who made headlines for cracking a poll in North Carolina.

In court today, Hill's fiancee, Saleina McClain, described her son's panicked call after hill was killed in July 2015 at 320 Maple St.

The couple's young son heard his father begging for his life: "No, my kids are here!" before being shot, Judge Anthony Aloi noted today.

The young boy then saw his father one last time, fatally wounded, in a bedroom before the victim jumped out a window. A Good Samaritan found Hill and got him to the hospital, where he died.

When McClain arrived at the scene, her young son just "bawled his eyes out," she said.

Left to right: Jashua J. Williams and Harry E. Shelton

At sentencing, Williams maintained his innocence, saying he was "unwittingly involved." He blamed another man, Harry Shelton, who authorities believed actually carried out the shooting.

Williams' lawyer, Dan Magill, said the verdict should be set aside because a key witness, Ryan Ernestine, gave inconsistent testimony and is a criminal currently facing a robbery charge.

"This was a tragic loss of life," Magill said. "But at the end of the day, it was Harry Shelton who caused that tragic loss of life."

Aloi denied the request to overturn the verdict, noting he'd rendered the verdict himself. Part of that was considering Ernestine's credibility, and the judge said he ultimately found the testimony credible.

"Unfortunately, crimes are not committed in front of a bunch of choir boys," Aloi said of the fact Ernestine was in jail himself.

Still, Magill noted that prosecutors had originally believed Shelton pulled the trigger.

But Shelton was acquitted in a jury trial after blaming Williams for firing the fatal shot. Though it was apparently Shelton's weapon, Shelton testified that he only picked it up after the fatal shooting.

Shelton was found guilty only of endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor.

A'Nickalus G. Hill was fatally shot on July 29, 2015.

Prosecutor Melinda McGunnigle has said all along it was Williams' idea to kill Hill, whether he fired the fatal shot or not.

"Why did you have to kill him over 'Deez Nuts?" McClain, Hill's fiancee, asked Williams during sentencing today. "It just can't be that..."

She talked about the hurt that the murder had caused Hill's three young children, who were then all 10 years old or younger. The children were all in a nearby room when their father was killed.

McClain said she had been with Hill for a long time, but he had moved out two weeks before the murder while they "worked some things out."

"We were together for 17 years, but look what 2 weeks did," McClain said.

Hill didn't insult Williams, he simply complained to someone else about Williams' use of Deez Nuts, McGunnigle said. The killer's girlfriend's 3-year-old child had picked up the phrase and Hill didn't think it was appropriate.

That complaint made Williams livid, and he drove around for hours before returning to the residence to kill Hill, McGunnigle said.

Aloi, the judge, said that Hill "died over a stupid phrase said by a young child."

But Williams read a rambling prepared statement in which he blamed the system, his lawyer, the prosecutor and Shelton for a miscarriage of justice.

He called the case full of bias, ineffective counsel and prosecutorial misconduct.