Cairo man pleads not guilty to killing bank employees

A Cairo, Illinois, man pleaded not guilty Tuesday in federal court to charges he murdered two women while attempting to rob a bank last month.

James Nathaniel Watts, 29, was arrested May 15 after a high-speed chase and a standoff with police near a railroad trestle spanning the Ohio River.

He is accused of killing two women, Anita Grace, 52, of Olive Branch, Illinois, and Nita Smith, 52, of Wickliffe, Kentucky, in what court documents characterize as a failed attempt to rob First National Bank of Cairo.

An indictment filed June 3 charges Watts with one count of attempted armed bank robbery resulting in death and one count of possession of a firearm by a felon.

Watts was arraigned on the charges Tuesday in federal district court in Benton, Illinois.

Although Illinois abolished its death penalty in 2011, with Gov. Pat Quinn commuting 15 death-row inmates' sentences to life in prison, Watts still faces the possibility of capital punishment if he is convicted. Watts' charges are federal, not state, meaning the federal court system will be responsible for carrying out his punishment if he is convicted.

Under federal law, defendants age 18 and older are eligible for the death penalty if they meet certain criteria.

The indictment filed last week lists "special findings" that render Watts eligible for capital punishment if he is convicted.

According to the indictment, Watts:

• Intentionally killed Grace and Smith.
• Engaged in acts of violence "such that participation in the act[s] constituted a reckless disregard for human life" and the women died as a direct result.
• "Commit[ted] the offense in an especially heinous, cruel, or depraved manner in that it involved torture or serious physical abuse to the victims."
• Killed the victims "after substantial planning and premeditation."
• Intentionally killed more than one person.

An affidavit filed last month in federal court accuses Watts of approaching three female employees as they left the bank after closing and forcing them back into the bank in an attempt to rob it.

Watts was unable to obtain any money because the bank was closed, but two employees were killed and another critically injured during the course of the attempted robbery, according to the affidavit.

Online court records show Watts has prior offenses ranging from passing bad checks to molesting a child.

In 2010, Watts pleaded guilty to 11 counts of forgery, for which he was sentenced to eight months in the Illinois Department of Corrections, and in 2006, he was sentenced to four years in prison for unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon.

Also in 2006, Watts pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a child and was given concurrent sentences of seven years on each count, online court records show.

He is on the Illinois State Police sex offender registry.

In 2005, he pleaded guilty in Cape Girardeau County Circuit Court to two counts of forgery, and in 2006, he pleaded guilty to passing a bad check, online court records show.

The Southern Illinoisan newspaper reported last month that Watts knew Grace -- who was the bank's branch president -- through the Illinois forgery case.

Grace called police in 2009 when 11 checks Watts had cashed were returned to the bank after they were found to have been reported stolen, the newspaper reported.

Watts' case is set for jury trial Aug. 4 in Benton, with a pretrial conference scheduled for July 24.

epriddy@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

Cairo, IL