When a person is sent to prison, one of the first lessons to be learned is that the prison has its own society, with rules established not just by prison authorities but by the prisoners themselves. If there is one universal rule among prisoners it is mind your own business and keep your mouth shut. Inmates are reminded that “snitches get stitches.”

It is an idea that can exist outside prison walls too. Many crimes go unpunished not because the suspect is unknown but because witnesses are afraid to step forward. Other suspects go free because key witnesses are intimidated, bullied, coerced – sometimes by threat, sometimes by bribes. Even a witness who agrees to testify can sometimes be coerced to leave out or change key testimony.

For law enforcement, this climate of intimidation hampers investigations. For prosecutors, reluctant, compromised witnesses can make it difficult to bring the guilty to justice.

When this climate of fear and intimidation becomes entrenched, the community is less safe.

In 2017, Undra Williams was arrested for an early morning Thanksgiving Day shooting after an event at Trotter Center. Only one witness came forward to identify Williams as the shooter in that case. District Attorney Scott Colom said that witness did not cooperate when the case went before a grand jury, so Williams wasn’t indicted.

And so it was that a ticking time bomb returned to the streets of Columbus.

Six years later, one man died and three others were injured when Williams opened fire in a nightclub shooting.

This time it was different.

Last week, Williams was convicted of murder and three counts of aggravated assault in that shooting. It took the jury only about a half-hour to return the guilty verdict. Prosecuting attorney Ben Lang credited seven witnesses who testified against Williams for securing the verdict that sent Williams to prison for the rest of his life.

“A community is only as strong as the people in it – good people doing hard, sometimes scary things,” Lang said.

In the Williams murder trial, witnesses were clearly afraid, but testified anyway. Colom said one witness covered her face with her hand while she testified. Other witnesses faced threats as well. The club owner was offered several thousand dollars in a bribe to destroy video evidence of the crime, Colom said.

Colom said in recent years he has made a conscious effort to aggressively pursue charges against those who threaten, bribe or tamper with witnesses. He wants to send a message that the justice system will not tolerate it.

That hasn’t always been the case. Too often, those who tampered with witnesses were never held accountable.

“On every serious violent case we have now, we have family members and friends of the suspect tampering with our witnesses,” Colom said.

Colom is also calling for the legislature to increase sentencing for witness tampering. Currently, the offense carries a maximum sentence of two years. Colom says those convicted are often out on probation after a few months. He wants the legislature to set the penalty at 10 years, a punishment he feels will be a real deterrent.

When someone intimidates a witness, he has actually committed two crimes: one against the justice system, another against the witness. We agree with Colom that there should be serious consequences for this.

Our law enforcement and judicial system often rely on regular citizens to bring criminals to justice. The conspiracy of silence created by witness intimidation makes our community a dangerous place.

Aggressive prosecution of witness tampering and serious jail time are key to changing that narrative.

The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.

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