HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — On Thursday, Billy Adams had his first court appearance since being charged with two felonies in the murder of Alana Sims. Sims was killed just days after Adams was acquitted in a separate double homicide case.
The hearing only lasted a few minutes, but the details revealed in new court documents, filed ahead of his next hearing on Monday, could change what happens.
Right now Adams will remain in jail, without bond. In this motion – the state detailed interviews with witnesses and Adams – and how, the more questions they asked, the more his story changed.
The motion for pretrial detention states, "Adams told detectives he was home the entire evening of Jan. 30."
That's the night Sims was killed.
Her family told 10 Tampa Bay she was five months pregnant. The Tampa Police Department said her body was found on the road of a New Tampa neighborhood.
Her toddler son was asleep in the car next to her when the police arrived.
Documents show Adams gave police video showing he was with friends at the villas that night.
He recanted those statements after police, "later determined that the video was recorded on Feb. 1 and was altered to indicate the January 30 date and location," documents say.
Just days before Sims' death, Adams was acquitted in a double homicide case to which he claimed self-defense. Now – he's giving police a similar argument.
Documents say, "Initially the defendant stated that the victim pulled a gun on him and while the defendant wrestled with the victim, he shot her. When the defendant could not demonstrate the events, the defendant changed his statement to the fact that the victim pulled a gun on him and he was able to get the gun away from the victim and then shot her in the head as self-defense."
On Monday, the state will argue that Adams poses a threat of harm to the community and should stay in jail without bond throughout his court proceedings. That hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m. at the Hillsborough County Courthouse.
Adams is charged with two felony counts: first-degree murder and the killing of an unborn child by injury to the mother.