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Eric Williams
I wrote in my morning post that Eric Williams, a former Kaufman County, Texas Justice of the Peace, had been arrested in connection with the murders of Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse and District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife Cynthia McLelland. It now seems certain that Williams will be charged with capital murder later this week.
The New York Daily news reports:
Forty-six-year-old Eric Williams was booked into the Kaufman County Jail on Saturday after police searched his home. The ex-justice of the peace has been charged with emailing “terroristic threats” to county employees. Although murder charges have not yet been made, sources told CBS 11 that Williams is a prime suspect in the shooting deaths of District Attorney Mike McLelland; his wife, Cynthia McLelland; and Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse.
Williams is being held on a $3 million bond.
Both Mike McLelland and Hasse had prosecuted their suspected killer. Williams was convicted in March 2012 of the burglary of a building and theft by a public servant.
He was sentenced to two months of probation for stealing computer equipment from a county building. The man lost his justice of the peace position, his law license and health insurance as a result of the conviction, according to the Dallas Morning News.
During his trial, the disgraced county official said that McLelland and Hasse didn’t like him, CBS reports.
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Assistant DA Mark Hasse
Initially, police suspected the murders were payback for prosecutions of members of a white supremacist group, the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas. One of the prosecutors in that case even stepped down, citing “security concerns.”
According to the Dallas Morning News,
The day after the bodies of Cynthia and Mike McLelland were found, an anonymous writer sent an email to county officials threatening that more attacks were imminent if the writer’s demands were not met.
Law enforcement authorities have since linked the the threat back to Eric Williams, a former justice of the peace who is now the prime suspect in the slayings.
The McLellands were found dead in their home over Easter weekend. Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse was gunned down Jan. 31 as he walked to the county courthouse….
Williams was convicted of stealing county equipment last year and sentenced to probation in a highly contentious case prosecuted by McLelland and Hasse. That case is on appeal. Williams faces another theft charge in a case related to money allegedly misused from a law library fund.
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Mike and Cynthia McLelland
Three people murdered over what sounds like fairly small-time burglary charges. And all Williams got was probation. I wonder if Williams was threatening more killings. It seems possible, based on the arsenal he had assembled.
Authorities searched the Williams’ home and that of his in-laws, who live down the street from them, on Friday. Those searches led to the execution of a search warrant on Saturday at Gibson Self Storage on Seagoville Road near U.S. Highway 175.
Authorities seized more than 20 weapons from the unit, which was rented on behalf of Williams. Some of the weapons are similar to those used in the Hasse and McLelland slayings. Ballistics tests are now being conducted by the Texas Rangers crime lab on the weapons that are of the same caliber as those used in the killings
Police also found a car in the storage unit that looked like one seen in the area at the time of the McLelland murders.
Hours after the McLellands’ bodies were found, authorities met with Williams at a local Denny’s restaurant, Williams’ attorney, David Sergi, told CNN earlier this month.
Investigators took swab samples from Williams’ hands to test him for gun residue, according to the lawyer. Results were not made public by officials, but Sergi said the tests came back negative….
On Friday, Sergi released a statement saying that Williams “has cooperated with law enforcement and vigorously denies any and all allegations. He wishes simply to get on with his life and hopes that the perpetrators are brought to justice.”
So police apparently suspected Williams right away. Williams is still maintaining his innocence. We’ll have to wait to see what happens after he’s charged. It sounds like police are pretty certain they’ve got their man.
Please use this as an open thread.
Image may be NSFW.
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Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
