Could you look past man’s facial tattoos? Attorney asks if jurors can at Louisiana trial

Could you judge a man accused of two murders fairly despite his extensive face and neck tattoos?

That’s the question an attorney for William Bottoms Jr., 29, asked prospective jurors Monday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, The Advocate reported. Photos show numerous tattoos of skulls, teeth, devil horns and other symbols covering his face and neck.

“That’s the first thing you see with him,” said defense attorney Jarvis Antwine, according to the publication. Most potential jurors replied they would not hold the tattoos against Bottoms at the trial, with one calling them “a personal choice.”

Bottoms, of Greenwell Springs, Louisiana, faces charges that he fatally shot Dedrick Williams, 27, and Muhammad Hussain, 29, in Baker in June 2017, WAFB reported.

Their bodies, both shot several times in the head, were found covered by a blanket in the back seat of a car, according to the station. Bottoms and girlfriend Megan Gaylord, 29, were arrested about three weeks later.

“He’s an evil man,” said Cassandra Williams, mother of Dedrick Williams, about Bottoms following his arrest, WAFB reported. “He’s demonic.”

In April, Mississippi sheriff’s deputies fatally shot Lawrence “Dragon” Bottoms, 29, the twin brother of William Bottoms Jr., The Biloxi Sun-Herald reported.

Deputies were serving a warrant on Lawrence Bottoms, who had earlier been convicted in the 2015 “stabbing of a teenager with a screwdriver,” according to the publication.

He jumped from a second-story window and led deputies on a short chase before pulling a 9mm pistol, prompting officers to shoot him, WLOX reported.

This story was originally published August 8, 2019 at 8:41 AM with the headline "Could you look past man’s facial tattoos? Attorney asks if jurors can at Louisiana trial."