Ex-judge sentenced to death in Texas revenge plot
ROCKWALL, Texas — A former Texas justice of the peace received a death sentence Wednesday for the 2013 killing of a Texas district attorney's wife.
Eric Williams was convicted earlier this month of capital murder in the death of Cynthia McLelland, 65, the wife of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland, 63, who also was killed. The couple was killed in their home on March 30, 2013.
Williams has been charged, but not tried, in the deaths of Mike McLelland and Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse, 57, who was gunned down as he walked into the Kaufman County courthouse in January 2013 in broad daylight.
Prosecutors said Williams, 47, meticulously plotted revenge against the men because they prosecuted him for theft and burglary in 2012. Williams lost his job as justice of the peace — a judge who handles mostly administrative duties — and law license. Prosecutors say that conviction pushed Williams over the edge. During his trial, McLelland and Hasse presented evidence that he paid a friend to rent a storage unit where he kept more than 30 guns, police tactical gear and a getaway car.
The jury began deliberations Tuesday night after hearing testimony from Williams' estranged wife and alleged accomplice, Kim Williams. She is charged with capital murder.
She testified that she drove the getaway car in Hasse's death and helped her husband dispose of weapons used in the shooting of the McLellands. She also said that they had a steak dinner to celebrate the deaths of the McLellands.
The jurors deliberated for more than two hours Tuesday night before being sequestered for the night. They resumed deliberations Wednesday.
In closing arguments, Williams' defense team pleaded for his life. But prosecutors said Williams is a serial psychopathic killer who planned to kill even more of his enemies.
Kim Williams had testified that her husband had a hit list that included a former judge and another district attorney.
After the deaths of the McLellands, Kaufman County was on alert as it was Eric Williams was charged almost two weeks after the McLellands were killed. At the time he was charged, Williams was already jailed on charges of making a terroristic threat in the aftermath of the killings.
During sentencing Wednesday, Judge Mike Snipes compared Williams to infamous serial killers.
"You made yourself out to be some sort of 'Charles Bronson-death-wish-vigilante' in this case. I never bought that. And to any deluded souls out there who may have bought it ... at the end of the day, you murdered a little old lady," the judge told Williams. "And you would have murdered two other innocent people if you had the opportunity. That puts you right there with Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer and Richard Speck."
Snipes also addressed Kaufman County residents.
"I know you've been scared for the last couple of years. Nobody's gonna be scared anymore."
The families of the murder victims spoke directly to Williams. Through their tears and anger, they told him what they thought of him.
"You are going to die and our family will be there to watch it happen. And long after your corpse has been disposed of, and your name forgotten, this county and state will remember the good people — Mark Hasse, Mike McLelland, Cynthia McLelland — who gave their lives putting scum like you in prison," Mark Hasse's mother wrote in a statement which was read in court.
"You took away my parents. You will get what you deserve," said son J.R. McLelland.
Eric Williams will die by lethal injection. Kim Williams still faces her fate. She is hoping by testifying against her husband she will be spared the death penalty and will be given a life sentence.
Contributing: Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY; The Associated Press