2nd Man Convicted in Tourist Slaying

A second Miami man was found guilty of murder Friday in connection with the sensational 1993 killing of a German tourist that helped shatter Miami’s image as a vacation paradise.

Anthony Williams, 21, was found guilty of first-degree murder and strong-arm robbery in the April 2, 1993, death of Barbara Meller Jensen.

Williams’ co-defendant, Leroy Rogers, 25, was found guilty Thursday on the same charges. The two were tried together but by separate juries. Williams’ verdict was reached Wednesday, but sealed until Rogers’ verdict was announced.

Jensen, 39, was robbed and run over in front of her mother and two young children about an hour after the family arrived in Miami for a two-week vacation. Her death, one of a series of attacks on tourists in Florida two years ago, caused international outrage and a decrease in the state’s $32-billion-a-year tourism industry.

Jensen’s husband, Christian, smiled when the Williams verdict was announced, but said he did not feel joy at the trial outcome.

“You see me smiling now. That means not that I am happy, but I am relieved,” he told reporters.

Jensen said he felt his late wife’s name would live on in the legacy of increased security for visitors to southern Florida. Among other things, Miami police have set up special public telephones for tourist aid, and rental cars now bear no outward sign that they are rented.

After the verdict was announced, Jensen took the stand and spoke of his family’s loss. His son Alex, then 6, was still suffering nightmares from seeing the attack. He said his daughter Daria, then an infant, will not remember her mother.

Jensen urged Rogers and Williams to help the state to bring to justice Lionel Twitty, who prosecutors said owns the car driven by Williams and who was allegedly involved in the attack but has not been charged.

Under Florida law, a suspect can be charged with murder if someone dies during the commission of a felony, even if he or she did not actually do the killing.

The two convicted men will face life prison terms when they are sentenced July 3, but there is some flexibility in sentencing on the robbery charges.

In taped statements to police, played to the juries during the trial, Williams and Rogers both admitted that they felt the car in which they were riding run over Jensen.

Prosecutor Cathy Vogel said she was nervous about the jury verdict but said the state is “very satisfied with the verdicts in this case.”