Inmate accused in plot to kill Miami-Dade judge

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By South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Published: 09/10/2001

For Bryant K. Williams, his lost freedom had a price.
And that price was the life of the judge who re-sentenced him to six years in prison, federal and state prosecutors said.
Williams and his ex-wife, Angela R. Lee, were planning to put a pipe bomb under Circuit Judge Peter Lopez's car, a federal complaint says.
Williams wanted enough explosive power to kill the judge, not just hurt him, so he went shopping for an expert. Little did he know the expert he contacted was an undercover agent from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Now Williams and Lee face federal and state charges of possessing explosives with intent to kill and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.
Williams, 39, was sentenced in 1997 to 71/2 years in state prison on burglary and aggravated stalking charges. But a technical problem in the sentencing guidelines forced authorities to revisit the case. That is when Lopez, who did not preside over the original case, came in.
Griffith said Lopez lowered the sentence to six years, but Williams was expecting to walk away and blamed Lopez for his misfortune. That called for payback, and Lopez would pay with his life. Prosecutors say Williams, still in prison, started seeking someone to build a pipe bomb for him.
Lopez, 43, said he was shocked when agents approached him and told him of the plans being hatched against him.
To Lopez's relief, the person Williams contacted for pipe bombs was a confidential informant of ATF agent Kevin Aberle.

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