4 years, 11 months ago by Scott Hardy
William Brewer to change Not Guilty plea May 21
A Quincy man, one of two people indicted in the deaths last fall of two children in a Quincy house fire, will change his Not Guilty plea next week.
William Brewer was in Adams County Circuit Court Wednesday for a status hearing. Brewer was set to go on trial June 17th on two counts of Involuntary Manslaughter and two counts of Child Endangerment. Instead, records show that he waived his right to a jury, and will enter a Guilty plea on Tuesday. He and a co-defendant, Marilyn Kramer, were indicted in mid-January by an Adams County Grand Jury on those counts. Kramer will plead Guilty May 28th to one count of endangerment in a settlement with prosecutors, and could get up to 5 years in prison. The charges are in connection with an October 12th, 2018 fire that resulted in the deaths of 8 year old Toby Brewer and 5 year old Emma Kramer. The Rooney Elementary School students died of smoke inhalation as a result of the fire at a home in the 600 block of North 8th Street. Prosecutors allege the elder Kramer and Brewer stole electricity from a neighboring home via damaged extension cords, which were run under a mattress. The cords then malfunctioned, allegedly causing the fatal fire.
Kramer and Brewer are both in the Adams County Jail on $25,000 bond. If convicted on all charges, Brewer could have faced from 8 to 20 years in prison.