Couple Indicted in DA Slaying Could Face Death Penalty in Texas
A former Texas court official and his wife were indicted Thursday on charges of capital murder in the deaths of three people who were fatally shot earlier this year.
Eric and Kim Williams could potentially face the death penalty after being indicted in a Texas court on Thursday, accused of killing Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland, his wife Cynthia, and Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse. The murders are believed to be avenge killings following a court sentence issued to Williams last year after he was convicted of stealing three county computer monitors. The ruling cost him both his license and his job.
The Williams, both 46, gunned down District Attorney Mark Hasse as he was walking to work in January. The McLellands were killed two months later in their home.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Following the killings, Eric Williams also allegedly sent out an email threatening further violence against other county employees. He was charged on one count of terroristic threat for issuing the email.
Police believe that it was Eric Williams who fired at each of the victims. Kim Williams confessed to police that she was the driver during both murders, according to an arrest warrant obtained by the Associated Press.
The county's current district attorney, former judge Erleigh Norville Wiley, declined questions on Thursday but extended prayers for family members of the victims.
''We join with the families, the county and all of those affected by these deaths in the prayer that justice will be done,'' she told AP.
Williams practiced law in Kaufman for more than a decade before being granted a judicial post. That position was taken following a highly publicized trial that portrayed Williams as a dishonest public official who had made death threats against others in the past.
Williams is being held on $23 million bail, his wife on $10 million.
