19-Year-Old Man Sentenced To Life: ‘Enough Is Enough’

A jury found Joseph Williams was responsible for the shooting deaths of two men in Bristol Township’s Winder Village section in March. On Friday, Bucks County Judge Alan Rubenstein ruled that Williams’ life would end in prison.

Williams, 19, of Bristol Township, was sentenced to life in state prison without the possibility of parole for the brazen shooting that killed Zyisean “Ziggy” McDuffie, 19, and Tommy Ballard, 19, outside a home in the 900 block Elmhurst Avenue on the evening of Friday, May 4, 2018.

Williams, whose mother pushed him into the national spotlight in 2014, was found guilty of first-degree murder and attempted homicide.

“Mr. Williams, in a brief moment, stripped both of them of their dreams,” Deputy District Attorney Antonetta Stancu said in court Friday afternoon.

Stancu made the case during the sentencing that Williams, who had been in trouble with the law as a minor and was out of a juvenile detention center on a weekend pass, did not show remorse for the shooting, which partly resulted from a dispute between the Bloomsdale-Fleetwing and Winder Village sections of Bristol Township.

“Enough is enough,” Stancu said. “The community in Bucks County, the community in Bristol Township needs to know that all lives are valued. We will not stand for any lives being taken away.”

Williams did not speak during the sentencing.

Despite Williams’ silence, Jerita Smith, McDuffie’s mom, said her son was planning to start a trucking service,

Ballard had dreamed of working with his father after graduating high school.

“These killings tear the community asunder,” the judge said during sentencing. “The crimes were monstrous, and there has to be a price to pay.”

The evening double-fatal shooting tore through the springtime air in Winder Village as families and friends gathered outside to take pictures before Harry S. Truman High School’s sophomore and junior prom. Parents, teens, and young children were all around the neighborhood.

Bullets missed nearby bystanders, but did damage a house where there were young kids.

During the trial, the jury and public heard roughly 30 witnesses testify. In addition, there was a gripping 20-minute police dashcam video that showed the aftermath of a 2018 shooting.

Gary Goddard, 49, of Bristol Township’s Croydon section, was found guilty of attempted homicide in the case. He is set to be sentenced next month.