GREENEVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL) — Yet another appointed defense attorney for accused sex criminal Sean Williams wants out of the job of representing the former downtown Johnson City resident.
Ilya Berenshteyn’s first courtroom appearance as Williams’ appointed attorney could have been his last, but a federal judge denied Berenshteyn’s unscheduled request to quit Monday.
Appearing on a motion that could have allowed a delay in Williams’ production of child pornography trial, Berenshteyn — the fourth appointed lawyer the accused serial rapist has had — sprung a twist into the proceedings almost immediately.
“He has put me in a position that I don’t believe that practically I can (represent him),” Berenshteyn told Judge Ronnie Greer.
Greer offered a five-word response: “I can’t say I’m surprised.”
Williams, a 52-year-old former Johnson City business owner and downtown resident, had three other appointed attorneys prior to Berenshteyn, who was appointed in May after Joseph Mcafee withdrew from his case.
Greer had made it clear Berenshteyn offered Williams his last chance of an appointed attorney in a sharply worded May 13 order that appointed Berenshteyn. He wrote that Williams would have to represent himself “if he cannot work harmoniously with his next attorney and either he or his substitute attorney inform the court of a desire or need to dissolve their attorney-client relationship…”
At least on Monday, Greer wasn’t ready to pull the trigger on that breakup, even after Berenshteyn said, “I’m informing the court right now there is a problem.”
“The oral motion to withdraw is denied,” Greer said after a 45-minute closed-door meeting with Williams and Berenshteyn. “Based on Mr. Williams’ representation that he does not want to represent himself, Mr. Berenshteyn will continue to represent Mr. Williams.”
Greer also said he won’t offer a continuance for Williams’ first scheduled federal trial, on charges he escaped from a prison transport van Oct. 18, 2023 as it entered Greeneville for a hearing. That trial begins July 16 and Williams has until July 8 to enter a plea agreement and potentially avoid trial.
And he turned down the request the parties were there for: to deem the child pornography production case “extended and complex” and open the door for a potential further delay.
That trial, stemming from three alleged incidents in his apartment, is scheduled to begin Aug. 27 following multiple delays due to attorney changes. Williams faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years on each of three counts if convicted, with a maximum of 30 years per count.
Williams has been tied to more than 50 alleged rapes at his fifth-floor Johnson City apartment based on video and photo evidence allegedly seized from him when he was arrested in North Carolina more than a year ago.
While he hasn’t yet been indicted on the vast majority of those alleged assaults, he faces three state counts of child rape or sexual assault that correspond to the incidents outlined in the federal child pornography charges.
Williams’ case has received broad attention, and he is at the center of three federal civil lawsuits against Johnson City and some of its current and former police officers.
In one, former federal prosecutor Kat Dahl, who worked with the Johnson City Police Department (JCPD) claims JCPD refused to renew her contract in retaliation after she pressed them in 2020 and 2021 to broaden an investigation into Williams beyond a federal ammunition case.
The second is on behalf of at least nine alleged sexual assault victims and claims the JCPD essentially enabled his alleged crimes and that there was some level of corruption involved.
The third was filed less than two weeks ago and alleges that a woman named Mikayla Evans’ fall from Williams’ apartment in September 2020 wouldn’t have happened without prior JCPD corruption that enabled Williams to continue his alleged crimes.
Williams fled Johnson City immediately after May 5, 2021, when the JCPD attempted to serve a federal warrant for being a felon in possession of ammunition. It was Dahl who got that warrant, which stemmed from a search of Williams’s apartment after Evans’ fall.
He was arrested in Cullowhee, N.C. April 29, 2023, when Western Carolina University (WCU) police allegedly found more than 12 ounces of cocaine and 14 ounces of methamphetamine after approaching him in a parked car in the middle of the night.
It was while searching for drug crime evidence on multiple digital devices Williams had in his possession that WCU officers allegedly discovered the photo and video files purportedly showing Williams committing dozens of sexual offenses.