A former University of Hawaii football player was among a parade of witnesses asking a federal court jury Thursday to spare the life of former Schofield Barracks soldier Naeem Williams.

A jury last week found Williams, 34, eligible for the death penalty. The same jury last month found him guilty of capital murder for killing his 5-year-old daughter, Talia, in their Wheeler Army Airfield family quarters in 2005 after months of assaulting and torturing her.

Robert Grant, who was a running back and defensive back for UH from 1998 to 2001, was Williams’ cellmate at the Federal Detention Center here following his arrest in 2008 for distributing MDMA, or Ecstasy. He served 22 months of his 31-month prison sentence at the FDC.

Grant said Williams was one of the few people to whom he could relate because there were so few African-American inmates at the FDC.

He said the environment at the FDC is tense because of the nature of the facility, which is a holding place for pretrial and short-term defendants. It’s not a prison, he said, and the guards were quick to write up inmates just for swearing.

Grant said the atmosphere was especially tense for Williams because all of the other inmates knew about his case and talked about it.

Through it all, Grant said Williams handled himself with a great deal of respect, never answering back to any of the guards and never getting written up for any infractions, at least during the time he was there.

"I don’t know how he did it," Grant said. "He handled it very well."

Williams’ youngest sister testified that her brother never talked backed to their father, even when their father was beating him.

"He’s extremely gentle and kind," she said. "He was always respectful."

Several of his Army buddies testified that Williams was always calm and never confrontational, even as his wife, Delilah, was yelling and throwing objects at him and trying to attack him.

"He’s one to chill back," Yaid Francisco Cardona said. "He keeps it to himself."

Crommer Taborda said he "never saw (Williams) get mad."

Shawn Cuffee described Williams as "even-keeled, always respectful."

Corinthian Parsons said Williams was "laid-back, easygoing."

Danny Morado said Williams is "real mellow, a chill type of guy."

Expected to testify for Williams on Friday are a woman with whom Williams had a relationship while he was married, and another former fellow inmate and some FDC guards.