A heavily-inked double-murder suspect whose lawyers feared the jury would “judge a book by its cover” for the tattoos all over his face has been convicted.
William Bottoms Jr. was found guilty Friday in East Baton Rouge, La., for the 2017 murders of Dedrick Dewayne Williams, 23, and Mohamed Sead Hussain, 29, news station WAFB reported.
Bottoms — who has spent most of his life in and out of lockups — was sentenced to two life terms in prison, the Advocate reported.
Bottoms’ attorney, Jarvus Atnwine, previously expressed concern that jurors would judge his client because of his wild face tattoos.
While questioning prospective jurors, he asked them whether they had a problem with Bottoms’ facial ink, which includes devil horns and skull teeth.
In his closing arguments, Antwine told the court that Bottoms was a “good dude” and urged the jury not “judge a book by its cover,” the Advocate reported.
But prosecutors rebuked Antwine’s “good dude” remark in rebuttal closing arguments as they detailed the grisly slayings. They allege that Bottoms became paranoid while on drugs in June 2017 and gunned down Williams and Hussain.
“Does a good guy shoot two innocent people?” East Baton Rouge Parish Assistant District Attorney Dana Cummings said, according to the Advocate.
The jury of six women and six men deliberated for an hour before finding Bottoms guilty of two counts of second-degree murder.



