PREVIOUSLY

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A judge found a case against a Hoopa man accused of murdering his uncle could proceed to trial, after hearing evidence against Travis Watson during a multi-day preliminary hearing.

Testimony during the hearing that concluded Friday clearly established the man stabbed 34-year-old James Williams on May 2, 2026, inside Watson’s home. The prosecution argued it was premeditated, pointing to evidence Watson told four people he would kill Williams.

But his attorney argued the stabbing was in self-defense.

Deputy Public Defender Owen Tipps said the victim had broken into the man’s home drunk and aimed to harm him the night of the stabbing. He presented information from another incident five days earlier where the victim arrived at Watson’s trailer and allegedly threatened him with a gun.

He further argued Watson had unintentionally hit an artery in Williams’ leg during the struggle, a wound that caused Williams to bleed out on the trailer floor.

“I do not want my fucking uncle to die,” Watson told dispatch, as he urged emergency services to hurry during a 911 call Tipps played for the court.

But the prosecution cast doubt on these reports, and on Watson’s story that he had stabbed Williams with a kitchen knife only after the man had him in a chokehold. Investigators testified the blood pattern in the trailer and a lack of visible injuries to Watson’s head or neck was inconsistent with the fight he described in two interviews, with contradictory details.

Judge Lawrence Killoran found the evidence met the probable cause standard for murder charges, meaning the case against him can continue.

Watson hung his head after he was held to answer to the murder charge and a deadly weapon enhancement that would bring extra jail time if he’s convicted.

Killoran ruled the man would remain incarcerated without bail, citing violent intent. He called this intent “pretty astounding,” and said there was potential for future harm to the public, after his attorney asked for Watson to be released on bail.

During closing arguments following three days of witness examination last week, Deputy District Attorney Roger Rees emphasized Watson told four people he’d kill Williams. Watson specifically told Williams’ daughter he would stab him, according to testimony from Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Jennifer Taylor.

Tipps later called the threats hyperbolic and hearsay, part of an ongoing rift between the men.

Rees emphasized Williams arrived at Watson’s trailer without weapons, save a pocket knife later found folded in the victim’s pocket during the autopsy. He argued Williams had gone unarmed to settle the ongoing conflict with Watson as he knew how — with his fists. Investigator Taylor testified she believes Williams likely wanted to fight Watson that morning, but not kill.

Rees also pressed into contradictions between Watson’s stories to police.

Taylor said Watson had “numerous versions,” of the events in the trailer that “changed significantly.”

Initially, Watson said he went back into the trailer to get his daughter. But the second time he was interviewed, he said it was to get his phone. He told police his daughter was screaming during the incident, but later said she was sleeping, Taylor testified. He variously told police Williams had a gun, or a knife, when he came into the trailer, though no weapon was found.

In his version of events, the fight involved his uncle choking him, hitting him, and holding a knife at the same time. Rees asked, ironically, how Williams could do this without three arms.

Later, Tipps explained the disparity in stories as a response to a traumatic event, and had Taylor to list the consistencies in his story.

He painted a much different picture during cross examination and his closing argument. He argued that Watson feared for his life and that of his daughter, who was in the trailer during the stabbing.

He pointed to an incident just days earlier where Williams apparently entered Watson’s house with a gun. The incident was on April 27, after Watson messaged Williams’ daughter accusing her father of having a relationship with an underage girl.

During a 911 call played in court, Watson reported Williams had pointed a gun at him and his four-year-old daughter, asking for an officer to come. He later called back, telling dispatch his uncle left and to cancel the call. He refused to identify himself or give his number during the call, something he later explained to police was due to warrants out for his arrest.

A friend of Williams’ told police he admitted to pointing the gun at Watson’s dog that night, Investigator Taylor testified. A neighbor told police a drunk Williams and Watson were fighting and Watson asked to be let into her house, but told police Williams did not point a gun at her, like Watson reported.

Overall, Rees argued these reports to police were “completely unfounded,” and there was no evidence Williams wanted to kill Watson other than the defendant’s statements.

Tipps said that his client “had nothing to hide here,” with Watson agreeing to two interviews with investigators and multiple 911 calls.

He argued his client had no intent to kill — and even if he did, the stabbing fell under the Castle Doctrine, which makes some homicides in California justified if an intruder breaks into someone’s home.

But Rees noted the law explicitly excludes family members, and argued there was no evidence of a forced entry, with Williams formerly being known to store property at Watson’s home.

The two were close, like brothers, police testified throughout the hearing. 

Judge Killoran pointing to significant issues between the victim and defendant, a “battling brothers” pattern with smooth and rocky periods. 

The conflict between the two included reporting each other for crimes in the days leading up to the stabbing. According to testimony from police, Watson had accused Williams of robbing someone. Williams in turn accused Watson of stealing an ATV, in a video he took in the bushes near Watson’s house.

But Killoran said the most persuasive evidence was that the defendant specifically stated he would stab Williams to death, showing he formed the idea ahead of time.

The next hearing is scheduled for July 24.