WOODVILLE – The trial of Cody Allen Knight, a 34-year-old Town Bluff man tried for murder came to a conclusion last Wednesday.
Knight was convicted of the murder of 35-year-old Earnest Williams, III, and District Judge Delinda Gibbs-Walker handed him a 45-year prison sentence for the crime.
Knight’s trial began on Monday, Jan. 13, and during the proceedings, Tyler County District Attorney Lucas Babin was able to present evidence to the jury that showed a timeline of the events, starting with the evening of April 18, 2024, when deputies with the Tyler County Sheriff’s Office initially responded to a call of a man who was in a woman’s yard in the Lake Hyatt Estates community, bleeding and unresponsive, from a gunshot wound to the head. That man (Williams) was transported to a hospital where he died two days later.
During the trial, the state was able to present evidence showing that Knight had gone to a residence at Lake Hyatt, near Warren, to visit his former girlfriend and their child. After an argument ensued, Knight left, but later returned when he learned that Williams was visiting the ex-girlfriend.
Knight parked his vehicle and waited outside of the residence, and when Williams exited the house, Knight shot the man in the head with a small-caliber firearm, and absconded the scene.
Evidence also showed that Knight had called a friend, confessing to the crime, but said he had “covered his tracks.”
Investigators with the Tyler County Sheriff’s Office were able to use geolocation data for Knight’s phone, as well as security camera footage from businesses to prove he had lied to authorities about his whereabouts at the time of the shooting.
Also presented were two photographs Knight, himself, had taken showing Williams’s vehicle parked in the yard of the ex-girlfriend’s residence, which were time-stamped at 11:17 p.m., moments before the shooting incident.
“Two families have been devastated by the actions of Cody Knight,” said Babin. “While we can’t bring Mr. Williams back, I am thankful justice was served.”