Fatal Beating Outside Silver Spring Restaurant Ends With Murder Plea

SILVER SPRING, MD — After a man died nine months following a 2021 beating outside a Silver Spring restaurant during a fight, a Wheaton man pleaded guilty Friday to second-degree murder.

According to the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office, Nickolis Williams, 33, of Wheaton, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the death of 29-year-old Darcel Cole. Williams faces up to 30 years in prison for the deadly bar fight; he will be sentenced on May 30, 2024.

The men argued and agreed to fight outside the Odalis Restaurant on Dec. 18, 2021, prosecutors said. Williams and Cole walked to a nearby parking lot, where they began to fight. Williams was much larger than Cole and has boxing training, the state's attorney said, according to WJLA.

Surveillance cameras showed Williams knocked Cole to the ground with a punch. As Cole lay motionless on the ground, Williams continued to hit him, prosecutors said.

Williams walked away from the scene, then returned and stomped on Cole's head three times, MOCO 360 said.

Cole was found unresponsive with significant head trauma, prosecutors said. He was taken to aMedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C., but remained in a vegetative state for nine and a half months until his death on October 5, 2022.

An autopsy showed Cole died from complications resulting from head trauma and his death was ruled a homicide, the state's attorney said.