Robert Wooten took the witness stand in his own murder trial and testified that he shot his ex-girlfriend, 30-year-old Meisha Williams, twice in the back while she stood in the bathroom of her luxury New Rochelle apartment, claiming he acted in self-defense. Wooten and Williams had dated but their relationship ended two years before the testimony, according to details reported by the Rockland/Westchester Journal News.
The killing happened at One Clinton Park, a 28-story, 352-unit luxury residential tower at 55 Clinton Place in downtown New Rochelle that opened in 2022, according to Ideally New Rochelle. Wooten’s account of the shooting, laid out under oath, was detailed in reporting by the Journal News, whose crime reporter Jonathan Bandler covered the testimony as the trial stretched toward its second month.
Police say the shooting took place on August 24, 2024. That evening, the New Rochelle Police Department tracked Wooten to Queens and arrested him around 9:00 p.m. through a joint operation involving the NYPD’s 103rd Precinct, the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, and the Westchester County Real Time Crime Center, per the Daily Voice’s account of the arrest. Officers had initially responded to a report of a suspicious death at the apartment building before identifying Wooten as a suspect.
Grand Jury Charges and a Prior Conviction
A Westchester County grand jury indicted Wooten in September 2024 on two counts of second-degree murder, first-degree burglary, and multiple counts of criminal possession of a weapon, according to the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office. He has remained remanded without bail at the Westchester County Jail since his indictment…