Kaufman Cty DA Mike McLelland & Wife Found Slain in Home(SOLVED)

[MuffyBee]

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/story/22016100/ex-kaufman-jp-charged-with-murder-in-da-prosecutor-slayings
Ex-Kaufman JP charged with murder in DA, prosecutor slayings
April 18, 2013

Ex-justice of the peace Eric Williams has been charged with capital murder in the deaths of Mike McLelland, his wife Cynthia and Mark Hasse.

The charges were announced Thursday afternoon at a press conference and cap a stressful three months in normally quiet Kaufman County.

Williams is being held on a $23 million bond.

Williams' wife, Kim, was charged Wednesday with capital murder in the three killings. She confessed to authorities and said her husband Eric was the gunman.

At Thursday's press conference, authorities said Kim Williams was the getaway driver for the Hasse slaying outside the county courthouse. Kim Williams was a passenger for the McLelland murders.

Sources have told FOX4 that a storage facility Williams rented was filled with weapons and had a Crown Victoria that had been seen in the McLelland's neighborhood when they were gunned down.
 ::snipping2::

[MuffyBee]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-kaufman-county-20130419,0,196760.story
Couple charged with murder in killings of Texas officials
Eric Williams and his wife, Kim, are charged in the killings of an assistant district attorney and a district attorney and his spouse in Kaufman County, Texas.
April 28, 2013

The murder charges weren't for the white supremacists, even though they'd threatened to kill the Texas prosecutors threatening to put them away; nor were they for the cartels, even though they'd long ravaged law enforcement down in Mexico.

Instead, officials in Texas believe a trio of slayings near Dallas boiled down to simple revenge: A disgraced former justice of the peace and his wife stand accused of murdering the Texas prosecutors who ended his career.

Eric Lyle Williams, 46, was charged with capital murder Thursday, one day after his wife, Kim Lene Williams, 46, was similarly charged in two attacks that shocked Kaufman County and led to fears of an unprecedented assault on the rule of law in Texas.

Officials believe the couple worked together without outside help in killing Kaufman County Assistant Dist. Atty. Mark Hasse outside the County Courthouse in late January and Dist. Atty. Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, in their home March 30.

Kaufman County Sheriff David Byrnes said Thursday at a news conference that Eric Williams did the shooting and Kim Williams did the driving in Hasse's killing, and that she waited in the car while her husband killed the McLellands at their home.
 ::snipping2::
Before the attacks, officials said, Williams searched the Internet for information on Hasse and McLelland that would have included data on their homes and vehicles; a friend said he also had asked how to destroy the part of an AR-15 rifle, the upper receiver, that is commonly used to make matches in ballistic tests.

Byrnes said the case broke open when officials discovered a storage unit that Williams kept under a friend's name. It contained 41 guns — including pistols and AR-15-style rifles — and a white Ford Crown Victoria. Other weapons, including AR-15 rifles, were found at Williams' home. None of the rifles had upper receivers.

Officials found video from before and after the McLellands' deaths that apparently shows the Williams' Ford Explorer entering and leaving the storage facility for a car swap with the Crown Victoria, which was spotted in the McLellands' neighborhood on the day of the attack.

On Tuesday, during questioning, Kim Williams confessed to her role and that of her husband, officials said, and the capital murder charges followed. Under Texas law, suspected accomplices can be prosecuted for the same charges as a suspected perpetrator.

Eric Williams has been in the Kaufman County jail since Saturday, when officials arrested him on suspicion of making a "terroristic threat" against investigators from his personal computer the day after the McLellands' deaths. "The threat implied unless law enforcement responded to the demands of the writer, another attack would occur," police said in the affidavit establishing probable cause for his arrest.

"Eric Williams has always been on the radar," Byrnes said. "We talked to him immediately after Mark Hasse's death and also the night of the McLelland shooting.... We obviously had arrested Eric before on this other thing, and it's obviously not pleasant."

"[He] used to be a reserve officer for me," Byrnes added. "So it's very distasteful, to say the least."

[MuffyBee]

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57580448-504083/mike-mclelland-murder-update-storage-unit-led-to-arrests-in-da-deaths/
Mike McLelland Murder Update: Storage unit led to arrests in DA deaths
April 19, 2013

 ::snipping2::
Former justice of the peace, Eric Lyle Williams, and his wife, Kim Williams, are charged with capital murder in the fatal shootings of District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, and assistant prosecutor Mark Hasse.

Investigators say the prosecutors had been concerned that Williams might be a threat to them after they successfully prosecuted him for theft last year, even going to the extent of carrying handguns following Williams' conviction. Williams was sentenced to two years' probation, lost his law license and his elected position as justice of the peace - a judge who handles mostly administrative duties.

Hasse was shot by a masked gunman in January as he made his way to his courthouse office. The McLellands were gunned down two months later at their rural home.

Sheriff David Byrnes told reporters Thursday that while Williams "has always been on the radar" - investigators questioned him after Hasse's slaying and again after the McLellands' deaths - authorities did not have the evidence to tie everything together until they found the storage unit. Authorities say a friend of Williams' told them about the weapons.

"The discovery of the storage locker probably was the watershed event that put us on to this," Byrnes said.

Authorities allege Eric Williams, 46, was the gunman in all of the slayings. They say his wife, who is also 46, was the getaway driver when her husband shot Hasse. They contend she was a passenger when her husband drove to the McLellands' home to carry out those killings early on the morning of March 30.

"Basically, this was a collaborative effort between Eric Williams and his wife," Byrnes said.

Eric Williams is being held on $23 million bail, and his wife is being held on $3 million bail. Online jail records do not indicate attorneys representing the couple.

Criminal defense attorneys Toby Shook and Bill Wirskye, both former Dallas County prosecutors, have been appointed as special prosecutors.

According to an arrest warrant, a friend of Williams' contacted authorities last week and told them the former justice of the peace had told him he needed to rent a storage unit to hide some items because of his ongoing legal problems.

Investigators searched the unit in Seagoville on Saturday and found a Crown Victoria matching security video of a car in the McLellands' neighborhood the day they were killed, according to the warrant. Williams used a false name to purchase the Crown Victoria in February, the affidavit said.

They also found guns, including eight .223-caliber weapons, authorities said. Investigators believe a .223-caliber firearm was used in the killings of the McLellands. Ammunition consistent with that used both in Hasse's and the McLellands' slayings was also found in the storage locker, according to the warrant.

Investigators also traced emails to a computer in Williams' home in which the author confessed to all three slayings and threatened more violence against county officials, the warrant says. Williams was arrested Saturday and charged with making a terroristic threat in connection with that email.

Kim Williams was arrested Wednesday. An arrest affidavit contends she confessed to the killings and told investigators her husband was the gunman.

Williams was elected to his judicial post in 2010 after practicing law in the county east of Dallas for a decade. He previously served as a peace officer in five North Texas cities and two counties, including Kaufman, according to records obtained by The Associated Press from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education. As recently as December 2010, he was a reserve officer in the Kaufman County Sheriff's Department.

During his theft trial, McLelland and Hasse portrayed Williams as a dishonest public official with a dangerous streak. The prosecutors presented evidence during closing arguments indicating Williams had made death threats against another local attorney and a former girlfriend.

Williams has appealed the conviction, and on March 29 - a day before the McLellands' bodies were found - a state appeals court in Dallas agreed to hear oral arguments in the case.

Marcus Busch, a U.S. Justice Department attorney who worked with Hasse in the Dallas district attorney's office and later went into private practice with him, said he was stunned by the arrests.

"I just don't understand how somebody in a white-collar case who received probation decides to throw away his own life with the senseless murder of people who were simply doing their jobs," Busch said.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.dentonrc.com/local-news/local-news-headlines/20130425-bill-to-keep-grand-jurors-names-secret.ece
Bill to keep grand jurors’ names secret
April 25, 2013

The Texas Senate recently approved a bill that would make every facet of a grand jury membership secret, including the names of the grand jurors.
An analysis of Senate Bill 834, introduced by Sen. Craig Estes, R-Wichita Falls, cites similar secrecy for members of federal grand juries and state grand juries in Arizona, Florida, New York and Utah.
In an interview Wednesday, Estes said he was working with the North Texas Crime Commission on the legislation.
“My whole aspect in this is to make sure people who serve in this capacity are safe,” Estes said.
He pointed to the popularity of smartphones and social media, saying those tools could help someone discover more after knowing a grand juror’s name. He said the Kaufman County murders showed the need for the law, although SB 834 was filed Feb. 26, nearly a month before District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, were shot. Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse was shot Jan. 31.
In 1999, Texas shielded the personal information of grand jurors, including address, and telephone, Social Security and driver’s license numbers. But unlike federal law and the laws governing grand juries in most other states, Texas still allows the key-man system of grand jury selection.
The method, used in counties throughout much of the state, uses a judge-appointed commission — not random selection — to determine who sits on grand juries.
The U.S. Supreme Court has long held that the key-man system is constitutional but vulnerable to abuse. Court rulings and academic studies have found the system tends to favor the powerful and disenfranchise racial minorities, the poor, women and the young. Those factors led other states and the federal government to abandon the system in favor of a more random process.
Only Texas and California still permit key-man.
The Texas Bar Association has not taken a position on the bill, according to Kim Davey, the group’s public information director.
But the Texas Press Association opposes the bill, according to Donnis Baggett, the trade group’s executive vice president.
“We stand for open government in every branch,” Baggett said. “The judicial system starts with the grand jury. In a free society, we are not supposed to have secret tribunals. We aren’t supposed to have that kind of justice.”
A defendant should be indicted and tried by a jury of his or her peers, he added.
“How are you to know that if the names are kept secret?” Baggett said.
After the bill was heard in committee, senators added another subsection that would allow the defendant’s attorney to request demographic information — names, races, ethnicities and genders of the grand jurors — if the attorney intended to challenge the grand jury’s array.
Estes said the committee worked with criminal defense attorneys to carve out that exception, but he acknowledged it limited the disclosure to the defense team, which would not be allowed to reveal that information to any other party.
Baggett said that compromise does nothing for the civic-minded public.
“They have a need for that information as well,” Baggett said.
More...

[MuffyBee]

http://www.kaufmanherald.com/news/article_65a405a8-b7fc-11e2-8b23-001a4bcf887a.html
Legal counsel appointed for Eric, Kim Williams
May 8, 2013

Eric and Kim Williams have been appointed legal counsel to represent them against capital murder charges.
Capital murder has only two sentences, if either or both are found guilty — either life in prison without possibility of parole … or death.
Dallas attorney Paul Johnson has been appointed to represent Kim Williams.
The Regional Public Defender for Capital Cases group will represent Eric Williams.
The couple is charged with the murders of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife Cynthia and of assistant district attorney Mark Hasse.
Hasse was shot killed on the morning of Jan. 31 as he walked from a county employee parking lot to the county courthouse where he worked for McLelland as a felony prosecutor.
The McLellands were shot and killed in their home on March 30.
 
On April 15, Kim Williams was arrested on capital murder charges, later confessing to investigators that she drove the getaway car during the Hasse murder and that she was a passenger in the vehicle during the McLelland murders.
She said Eric Williams was the gunman at both scenes.
Kim Williams remains in the Kaufman County Law Enforcement Center in lieu of $10 million bond, while her husband is also held there in lieu of $23 million bond.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.statesman.com/ap/ap/crime/couple-indicted-in-slaying-of-texas-prosecutors/nYXkh/
Couple indicted in slaying of Texas prosecutors
June 27, 2013

KAUFMAN, Texas — A former justice of the peace and his wife were indicted on capital murder charges Thursday in the deaths of two North Texas prosecutors who were fatally shot earlier this year, one outside the local courthouse and the other inside his home with his wife.
Eric and Kim Williams were each indicted by a Kaufman County grand jury for the deaths of Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse, District Attorney Mike McLelland and McLelland's wife, Cynthia.
The couple was arrested in April for what prosecutors allege was a meticulous plot to avenge Eric Williams' conviction for stealing three county computer monitors in 2012.
The Williamses, who are both 46, have been in the county jail southeast of Dallas since their arrests. Eric Williams is being held on a $23 million bond, while his wife's bond is $10 million. Capital murder charges can bring the death penalty in Texas.
Hasse was fatally shot as he walked to work in January, while the McLellands were gunned down in their home two months later.
More...

[MuffyBee]

http://www.wfaa.com/news/crime/kaufman-county-killings-eric-kim-williams-mclelland-hasse-hearing-217094421.html
Eric Williams faces death penalty in Kaufman County murder case
July 26, 2013

 
Eric Williams and his wife Kim were indicted late last month on a pair of capital murder charges in the brazen killings of District Attorney Mike McLelland, his wife Cynthia and Assistant DA Mark Hasse. The state announced it would pursue the death penalty against Mr. Williams in a Friday morning hearing that lasted about five minutes in Kaufman County's south campus courtroom.
Mrs. Williams also appeared in court and acknowledged the charges against her. The state has not determined whether it will seek the death penalty in her case. That decision will come next week.
Dallas County Judge Michael Snipes, who was appointed to hear the case, tentatively set jury selection in Mr. Williams' trial for spring of 2014. The trial itself is scheduled to begin in October 2014. After the arrests, Kaufman County Sheriff David Byrnes called capital punishment a "viable option" should the district attorney decide to pursue it.
County Judge Bruce Wood told News 8's David Schechter he wants the trial held in Kaufman. The defense will seek a change of venue, arguing that the Williamses will not be able to have a fair trial if it's held in the county.
The Williamses, both 46, have been in custody at the Kaufman County jail since their arrests in April. Eric Williams is jailed on $23 million bond while Kim is held on $10 million bond.
Investigators say the couple planned the assassination style murders following the aggressive conviction of Eric Williams in 2012 for stealing county computer equipment from the IT department. After he was found guilty, Williams lost his law license and his job at the county. He testified it would be difficult to care for his wife without health benefits afforded by his job.
On Jan. 31, Hasse was gunned down on his way into the Kaufman County Courthouse spurring a monthslong search for those responsible. Nearly two months to the day later, the McLellands were found shot dead inside their Forney home.
According to affidavits unsealed after Mr. Williams was arrested, McLelland and Hasse both feared for their safety and began carrying guns after convicting Williams. Following Hasse’s murder, Judge Wood said that the district attorney expressed concern that Williams was behind the fatal shooting.
Investigators also found weapons that fire similar caliber bullets to what was used in each murder at a storage locker Mr. Williams was seen using and at the couple's household. Williams is also accused of using the county’s Lexis/Nexis account to research driver’s license records and address information belonging to those he is accused of killing. 
The two were indicted on capital murder charges on June 27.

[Nut44x4]

Good      

[MuffyBee]

http://www.wfaa.com/news/crime/judge-approves-change-of-venue-eric-williams-murder-district-attorney-kaufman-241820681.html
Change of venue for trial of suspect in murders of Kaufman County DA, 2 others
January 24, 2014

DALLAS— A judge ordered a change of venue for the trial of the suspect in the murders of a Kaufman County district attorney, his wife and the assistant district attorney.
 
In an agreement between prosecutors and the defense team Friday, Eric Williams' trial was moved from Kaufman County to Rockwall County. It will take place on Oct. 20, 2014.
In June 2013, Williams, 46, and his wife Kim, 47, were indicted on capital murder charges in the deaths of District Attorney Mike McLelland, his wife Cynthia and Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse. The state announced in July they will seek the death penalty in the Williams case.
Prosecutors haven't revealed whether they will seek the death penalty in the capital murder case against Williams' wife.
According to investigators, Williams and his wife planned the murders after he was terminated from his job as the justice of the peace following a theft conviction. Williams was found guilty of stealing computer equipment from the county's IT department. After the conviction, he also lost his law license.
Hasse was gunned down in the parking lot of the Kaufman County Courthouse on Jan. 31, 2013. McLelland vowed to find the person or persons responsible in the shooting, but he and his wife were found shot dead about two months later inside their home.
 
In July 2013, County Judge Bruce Wood said he wanted the trial held in Kaufman County. However, Williams' defense team argued the former justice of the peace would be unable to receive a fair trial in the county.
In June 2013, on the same day the couple was indicted, Williams' wife filed for divorce, which is pending.

[texasmom]

http://www.kltv.com/story/24766987/dive-team-searching-lake-for-weapons-used-in-kaufman-co-da-slayings


Dive team searching lake for weapons used in Kaufman Co. DA slayings
Posted: Feb 19, 2014 2:26 PM CST Updated: Feb 19, 2014 2:31 PM CST
By Whitley Walden - email
 

KAUFMAN COUNTY, TX (KLTV) - A dive team is searching an East Texas lake Wednesday for weapons used in the March 2013 slayings of the Kaufman County district attorney, his wife and the assistant district attorney.

A law enforcement official tells The Associated Press that a Texas Department of Public Safety dive team is searching Lake Tawakoni after receiving a tip that weapons used in the crime may be located in the water. The official spoke anonymously because the person was not authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing investigation.

A DPS spokesmen and Kaufman County Sheriff David Byrnes confirmed that the search was taking place, but declined to say if it was linked to the case.

 

Former Kaufman County Justice of the Peace Eric Williams and his wife, Kim Williams, were arrested in April 2013 for their alleged involvement in the crime. Both are charged with capital murder and could face the death penalty if convicted. Jury selection for their trials is set to begin this Spring.

Lake Tawakoni is located thirty miles southwest of Sulphur Springs.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/story/24787685/judge-denies-request-to-delay-trial-for-kaufman-county-killings
Judge denies request to delay trial for Kaufman County killings
February 21, 2014

ROCKWALL, Texas -
 

Eric Williams is charged with capital murder for the March 2013 deaths of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, in their home. Assistant DA Mark Hasse was killed outside the Kaufman County courthouse in January 2013.

It was the first hearing for Williams since his attorneys asked for a change of venue from Kaufman to Rockwall County.

The defense attorneys asked for a delay in the case, but the judge denied that request.

Williams' wife, Kim, is also charged with capital murder.

Related to the case, sources told the Associated Press that investigators took boats out on Lake Tawakoni on Wednesday to search for gun parts.

Divers reportedly spent hours searching the lake for evidence linked to the murders, but did not find anything.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/story/25098480/jury-selection-begins-for-kaufman-county-slayings
Jury selection begins for Kaufman County slayings
March 28, 2014

KAUFMAN COUNTY, Texas -
Jury selection begins in the murder trial of a man charged with killing the Kaufman County district attorney, his wife and another prosecutor.

Former Justice of the Peace Eric Williams is charged with capital murder for the shooting deaths of Kaufman County DA Mike McLelland, his wife Cynthia and Assistant DA Mark Hasse.

Hasse was killed outside the Kaufman County Courthouse in January of last year. A massive search started and fears ran rampant in the community.

The McLellands were killed in their home two months later, sparking more fears and outrage.

Police believe Williams wanted revenged after a theft case against him cost him his office and law license.

Due to the amount of attention the case got and the sensitivity in Kaufman County, the trial has already been moved to Rockwall County.
 


Final jury selection will likely take place in August. The trial is set for Oct. 20.

Williams' now estranged wife Kim is also charged with capital murder in the cases. She will be tried separately.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.wfaa.com/news/crime/3000-summoned-to-court-as-jury-kaufman-county-252953361.html
3,000 summoned as jury selection begins in Kaufman County murders
March 28, 2014

ROCKWALL — Three-thousand people — or roughly 4 percent of Rockwall County’s residents — were summoned to the courthouse Friday morning as the long process of picking a jury begins in the Kaufman County prosecutor slayings.

The capital murder case of Eric Williams, a former justice of the peace, was moved to Rockwall County because of the extraordinary amount of publicity the case has received. Williams is accused of killing the district attorney, his wife and a top assistant last year

Dallas County District Judge Mike Snipes, who is presiding over the case, is using what’s known as a “big panel” procedure. This involves summoning a larger than normal pool of people to fill out jury questionnaires.
 

Potential jurors filled out 28-page questionnaires that included detailed questions about their views on the death penalty, the criminal justice system and law enforcement. It also asked potential jurors whether they knew anybody connected to the case, including prosecutors, defense attorneys, or the victims.

From that large pool of people, prosecutors and defense attorneys will winnow it down to a much smaller group of people. Formal jury selection is scheduled to begin in May. It’s expected to be completed in August.

Snipes has scheduled the trial to begin in October, although Williams’ defense attorneys have sought to delay court proceedings citing the enormous amount of work to be done.

Williams is being held in the Kaufman County jail in lieu of $23 million bail.

His wife, Kim, has also been charged with capital murder. She is being in the Kaufman County jail. Prosecutors have not said whether they will seek the death penalty against her.
The killings garnered national attention, beginning with the Jan. 31, 2013, slaying of assistant Kaufman County prosecutor Mark Hasse, 57. He was gunned down as he walked to the downtown Kaufman courthouse.

District Attorney Mike McLelland, 63, and his wife, Cynthia, 65, were slain Forney home over the Easter weekend.

A grand jury indicted Mr. and Mrs. Williams in June.

Authorities believe the couple began plotting the murders after McLelland and Hasse prosecuted Eric Williams in a theft and burglary case that resulted in his removal as a justice of the peace in 2012. Eric Williams also was stripped of his law license. A judge sentenced him to probation in that case.
 

[MuffyBee]

http://inforney.com/crime/item/1700-dps-dive-team-recovers-two-handguns-linked-to-mark-hasse-murder-kim-williams
DPS dive team recovers two handguns linked to Mark Hasse murder and Kim Williams
April 2, 2014

FORNEY, Texas – A Texas Department of Public Safety dive team has recovered two handguns from a underwater search of Lake Tawakoni along the Highway 276 “two mile bridge” in Hunt County.
According to a search warrant affidavit signed by Dallas County District Judge Mike Snipes, who is the visiting judge presiding over the Eric Williams murder trial in Rockwall County, the pistols were found by the dive team on or about March 5, 2014.

The affidavit does not link Eric Williams to either of the weapons found. However, the search warrant was signed on April 1, 2014, to allow investigators to search a black tote bag with a master lock which was recovered from an office building in Kaufman, Texas, on March 26, 2014, which was formerly rented by Eric Williams.

The locked black tote bag was covered with "no smoking" and "bullet hole" stickers. A second unlocked black tote was also recovered in Kaufman. That tote contained picture frames and packages of new CD-R's.

One of the pistols recovered from the lake has been linked to Kim Williams. According to the affidavit, an investigation by the ATF revealed it was purchased by Kim Williams “many years ago.”

The other pistol recovered from the lake has been identified as a Ruger .357 capable of firing .38 special rounds. Forensic testing concluded the Ruger was used to kill Mark Hasse on Thursday, January 31, 2013.

According to the affidavit, to date, the .223 caliber weapon used to kill the McLellands in their Forney, Texas, area home has not been located by investigators. Investigators believe the locked tote recovered in Kaufman, Texas, is large enough to conceal potential evidence including a .223 caliber weapon and/or an AR-15 style .223 caliber upper.

The locked tote is currently in the possession of the Texas Rangers at their Texas Department of Public Safety Lab in Garland, Texas, the contents of which remain unknown at this time.

 
Eric Williams' trial was moved to Rockwall County were jury selection began on March 28, 2014. The trial is scheduled to begin October 20, 2014.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.kansascity.com/2014/04/02/4931629/official-weapon-found-linked-to.html
Official: Weapon found linked to prosecutor death
April 2, 2014

DALLAS — A dive team has recovered a weapon from a North Texas lake that authorities say was used in the fatal shooting of a prosecutor last year, authorities said Wednesday.

The gun was linked to the January 2013 slaying of Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse outside a courthouse in Kaufman County, southeast of Dallas. A law enforcement official familiar with the investigation said a dive team found the weapon in Lake Tawakoni, 50 miles east of Dallas, earlier this year.

Two guns were found in the lake, concealed inside a black mask, the official said.

 
Two months after Hasse's killing, District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, were found shot dead in their home.

Former county Justice of the Peace Eric Williams and his wife, Kim, face capital murder charges in the deaths of Hasse, the district attorney and his wife. The two are scheduled for trial later this year.

Authorities believe Eric Williams bore a grudge against McLelland and Hasse for successfully prosecuting him for stealing three county-owned computer monitors. That conviction would cost Williams his job as a justice of the peace and his law license.

While investigators have found several weapons in a storage locker used by Eric Williams, those weapons had not been linked by testing to the crime before the dive team's search.
 

[MuffyBee]

http://www.kvue.com/news/state/Gun-linked-to-death-of-Kaufman-County-assistant-DA-found-in-lake-253608171.html
Gun linked to death of Kaufman County assistant DA found in lake
April 2, 2014

KAUFMAN — State police divers have recovered a weapon from Lake Tawakoni that forensic testing shows was used to assassinate Kaufman County Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse last year  – a find expected be a linchpin in the prosecution of former Kaufman County Justice of the Peace Eric Williams.
 
The gun, as well as a second gun and black mask, were recovered March 5 as divers with the Texas Department of Public Safety searched along the Highway 276 “two mile bridge” area in Hunt County, according to an search warrant affidavit obtained by News 8. The lake is located about 40 miles northeast of Kaufman.
 
That second gun has been directly linked through purchase records to Williams’ wife, Kim, the records state.
 
DPS divers periodically searched around the lake in grids for months as investigators continued to build their case against Williams.
 
Eric and Kim Williams have been accused in the slaying of Hasse, 57 on Jan. 31, 2013. He was gunned down by a masked man as he walked to the downtown Kaufman courthouse. District Attorney Mike McLelland, 63, and his wife Cynthia, 65, were slain in their Forney home over the Easter weekend.
 
 
 
According to the warrant authored by Kaufman County Sheriff’s Sgt. Mark Woodall, the Hasse murder weapon is a Ruger .357 capable of firing .38-caliber special rounds, the warrant states. Hasse was killed by .38-caliber rounds.
 
“Affiant has learned that recent forensic testing of this Ruger pistol has revealed that this pistol was the same pistol from which that bullets that killed Mark Hasse were fired,” the affidavit states.
 
Investigators have since determined with the help of ATF that the second gun was purchased by Kim Williams many years ago, the warrant states.
 
Woodall obtained the search warrant so that authorities could search a padlocked black tote bag to determine if there was any evidence connected to the killings. Investigators recovered the bag on March 26 from an office where Eric Williams had previously rented space, the warrant states.  The bag is covered with bullet hole stickers and no smoking stickers.
 
Last year, during a search of a Seagoville storage unit, authorities found dozen of weapons, ammunition and a Crown Victor sedan believed to have been used in the McLelland slayings. Police found a title to the Crown Victoria during a search last year of Williams’ home, according to court documents.
 
Williams had asked a friend to secretly rent the storage unit, authorities say.
 
Inside the storage unit, authorities found a live .223 round that matched spent shell cases found at the McLelland crime scene.  Woodall also wrote in the warrant that investigators have not yet recovered the weapon used to kill the McLellands.
 
Woodall’s warrant also revealed for the first time that authorities found “two jars believed to be filled with homemade napalm” inside the unit. Court documents had previously revealed that authorities found a homemade incendiary device “capable of, and believed intended for, evidence destruction.”
 
Authorities believe the couple began plotting the murders after McLelland and Hasse prosecuted Williams in a theft and burglary case that resulted in his removal as a justice of the peace in 2012. Williams also was stripped of his law license. A judge sentenced him to probation in that case.
Attorneys for Williams have sought to delay court proceedings in the case, citing the massive amount of evidence collected in the case. The case has been moved to Rockwall County.
 
Dallas County District Judge Mike Snipes is presiding over the case after a Kaufman County judge recused himself.
 
Last Friday, the long process of selecting a jury in the capital murder case began when thousands of people were summoned to the Rockwall County courthouse to fill out questionnaires. Formal jury selection is slated to begin in May. The judge has said he wants to have a jury picked by August.
 
The trial has been scheduled to start in October.

Eric Williams is currently being held in the Kaufman County jail on $23 million bail.

[MuffyBee]

(BBM) Dorothy Canfield tried to set it up for her planned "hit" to be associated with that of Mike McLelland and his wife in an attempt to throw off  investigators. 

http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/08/31/6081819/elderly-woman-suspect-nicknamed.html
Elderly woman suspect nicknamed ‘No Soul’
August 31, 2014

CONROE — The 85-year-old Willis woman wearing a pink-striped jail suit sat emotionless in her wheelchair last week in a Montgomery County courtroom, as prosecutors painted a portrait of her that was far from the grandmotherly figure she resembled.

Dorothy Clark Canfield had already pleaded guilty to trying to hire a hitman to maim the district attorney there and kill his chief prosecutor. She had also pleaded guilty to stealing $100,000 from illegal immigrants, which authorities say she squandered on everything from skydiving to spa beauty treatments. As a result, Canfield was facing up to life in prison for the criminal solicitations of capital murder and aggravated assault and up to 20 years for the immigrant theft scam.

Before the prosecution rested its case in the punishment phase Thursday, Lisa Tanner, an assistant Texas attorney general handling the case, reminded the court how Canfield, whom jail inmates said had been nicknamed “No Soul,” had been recorded telling an undercover officer posing as a hitman how she was eagerly “looking forward” to seeing his job completed within a day after they talked.

Canfield had first only wanted the assistant prosecutor handling her immigrant scam case “knocked off” but then added Montgomery County’s DA, Brett Ligon, to the “contract” — hoping investigators might link it to the murders in 2013 of another Texas district attorney, his wife and chief prosecutor in Kaufman County. That case was initially thought to possibly involve the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang, which had been vigilantly prosecuted by a task force that included Montgomery and Kaufman counties.

“It was a scary time,” Ligon said, recalling how he had required a security detail for a while until a disgruntled Kaufman justice of the peace who had been convicted of theft was found to be the culprit.
 
Ligon also took the stand to testify that any effort to attack an elected public servant threatens the very fabric of the order of law and should not be tolerated.

The plot to hire a hitman was spawned in the Montgomery County Jail after Canfield heard TV reports about the killings of the two Kaufman County prosecutors that made her smile, two cellmates testified.

One of them, Kristen Kimmel, said that afterward Canfield pestered her to help find someone to “knock off” her own prosecutor. Kimmel testified tearfully that she had done some bad things in her life, but had never participated in murder.

In an audio recording, she tries to dissuade Canfield. But Canfield said she was old and wanted out of jail. “I’ve been here before. If I have to come back, it won’t be much difference,” she said.

Through Kimmel, she contacted the officer she thought was a hitman and they spoke by phone and then in person at the jail, where he went as a visitor.

She was also recorded admitting to scamming immigrants for thousands of dollars, pretending to help them get citizenship papers but providing them nothing. “I love pretty clothes. I love fancy living, and that takes money to do,” she said on the tape.

Another cellmate, Glenna Jones, testified that Canfield also said she wanted to see a daughter-in-law killed because she had influenced her son against helping her.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/crime/2014/09/02/prosecutors-man-eric-williams-mclelland-kaufman-district-slayings-killings/14962471/
Prosecutors: Man accused of Kaufman killings had more targets
September 2, 2014


KAUFMAN — Eric Williams, the disbarred justice of the peace accused in last year's Kaufman County prosecutor slayings, had other targets that he wanted to assassinate, prosecutors revealed for the first time Tuesday.

Among those targets were the current Kaufman County district attorney and his one-time boss.

Documents filed Tuesday morning don't reveal why Williams would have wanted to kill District Attorney Erleigh Norville Wiley, who served as a county court at law judge prior to being sworn in after District Attorney Mike McLelland's death.

It also doesn't explain why he would have wanted to kill former District Judge Glen Ashworth, who Williams had worked with as a court coordinator prior to getting his law degree. The records indicate he planned to kill Ashworth as far back as 2005.

Eric and Kim Williams have been accused in the slaying of Hasse on Jan. 31, 2013. At age 57, Hasse was gunned down by a masked man as he walked to the downtown Kaufman courthouse.

Mike McLelland, 63, and his wife Cynthia, 65, were slain in their Forney home over the Easter weekend. McLelland and Hasse had prosecuted Williams in a burglary and theft case the year before.

Special prosecutors, Bill Wirskye and Toby Shook, are seeking the death penalty for Mr. Williams.

The documents confirm what has long been suspected, which is that Mrs. Williams will testify for the prosecution when her estranged husband goes on trial Dec. 1. She's listed on the prosecution's witness list.

The paperwork, filed by Wirskye, contain other startling revelations:

That Mr. Williams called in a false Crime Stoppers tip nearly a month after the Hasse murder in an apparent effort to put investigators on the wrong track.
That Mr. Williams impersonated a police officer during the McLelland slayings.
That Mr. Williams threw a phone, a mask and two revolvers into Lake Tawakoni on the day of the McLelland murders. Forensic testing confirmed one of the revolvers was used to kill Hasse. The mask was worn by Mr. Williams during the Hasse murder.
That Mr. Williams sent a message to Crime Stoppers on the day of the McLelland murders. The message claimed "credit for both murders" and "contained facts about the Hasse murder only the true murderer would know," according to the court records.
Investigators had previously revealed that threats of future attacks had been made in that message. The writer of that message had threatened future violence if the writer's demands weren't met. Authorities haven't detailed those demands.

In the court filings, Wirskye laid out the case for why prosecutors believe the murders of Hasse and McLelland are inextricably linked.

There was only one common "denominator" between Hasse and McLelland – and that was Mr. Williams, he wrote.

"Mark Hasse and Mike McLelland only tried one case together – the hotly contested Eric Williams burglary case which was tried approximately nine months before the Hasse murder," Wirskye wrote.

Wirskye listed other connections, including:

That Mr. Williams rented a storage unit about a month before the Hasse murder, "which the evidence shows served as a base of operations for both murders." Access logs show the storage unit was accessed shortly before and shortly after both Hasse and McLelland murders.
That Mr. Williams bought a "getaway car" shortly before each murder. Officials have since recovered both vehicles.
That Mr. Williams used a Lexis-Nexis account, an information database, to search for information on McLelland and Hasse prior to the Hasse slaying.
The document reveals that testing shows that a set of "shooters earplugs" found in the Hasse getaway vehicle had Mr. Williams' DNA on them.

A gunshot residue test taken on the day of the McLelland murders found "results consistent with handling firearms," the records state.

The investigation hasn't found any reason why Mrs. McLelland was killed other than she was Mr. McLelland's wife, according to the filings.

Authorities contend the couple began plotting the murders after McLelland and Hasse successfully prosecuted Williams, which resulted in his removal as a justice of the peace in 2012. Williams also was stripped of his law license. A judge sentenced him to probation in that case.

With the help of Mrs. Williams, state police divers recovered the mask, revolvers and cellphone from Lake Tawakoni on March 5. The lake is located about 40 miles northeast of Kaufman.

Last year, during a search of a Seagoville storage unit, authorities found dozen of weapons, homemade napalm, a makeshift incendiary device, ammunition and a Crown Victoria sedan believed to have been used in the McLelland slayings. Police found a title to the Crown Victoria during a search last year of Williams' home, according to previously filed court documents.

Inside the storage unit, authorities found a live .223 round that matched spent shell cases found at the McLelland crime scene. Investigators haven't yet recovered the weapon use to kill the McLellands.

Citing the massive amount of evidence collected in the case, attorneys for Williams have sought to delay court proceedings in the case. The case has been moved to Rockwall County.
 

[MuffyBee]

http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/crime/2014/09/11/fbi-crime-home-jp-eric-williams-kaufman-murders/15435363/
FBI searching for evidence at Eric Williams' home
September 11, 2014

KAUFMAN -- An FBI crime scene team is currently searching the home and yard of Eric Williams, the disbarred justice of the peace accused in last year's Kaufman County prosecutor murders.

The search comes one day before a court hearing in which Williams' attorneys will ask a judge to further delay his December trial.

Eric and Kim Williams have been accused in the slaying of Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse on Jan. 31, 2013. Hasse, 57, was gunned down by a masked man as he walked to the downtown Kaufman courthouse.

District Attorney Mike McLelland, 63, and his wife Cynthia, 65, were slain in their Forney home over Easter weekend. McLelland and Hasse had prosecuted Williams in a burglary and theft case the year before.

Among the items the FBI team may be looking for is the assault weapon used in the McLelland killings. With the help of Kim Williams, authorities have already recovered the gun used in the Hasse's murder earlier his year from Lake Tawakoni.

An FBI spokeswoman said the Dallas-based evidence response team is assisting the Kaufman County Sheriff's Department.

"We can confirm law enforcement activity at this address," Kaufman County Sheriff's Capt. Fred Klingelberger said.
The Williams' home, located in a quiet subdivision, was previously searched by police after the murders.

Special prosecutors, Bill Wirskye and Toby Shook, are seeking the death penalty for Eric Williams.

Last week in court filings, prosecutors disclosed for the first time that Eric Williams had other assassination targets including current District Attorney Erleigh Norville Wiley, and his one-time boss, retired state District Judge Glen Ashworth.

When Eric Williams goes on trial, he is being tried on the indictment for the McLellands.

Prosecutors contend the murders of Hasse and Mike McLelland are inextricably linked and are seeking to introduce evidence and details related to the Hasse case during the trial.

Authorities contend the couple began plotting the murders after McLelland and Hasse successfully prosecuted Williams, which resulted in his removal as a justice of the peace in 2012. Williams also was stripped of his law license. A judge sentenced him to probation in that case.

 

Jury selection begins later this month.

Eric Williams is currently being held in the Rockwall County Jail.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/story/26506809/fbi-searching-outside-kaufman-county-murder-suspects-home
FBI search outside Kaufman County murder suspect’s home
September 11, 2014



KAUFMAN, Texas - FBI investigators searched the home of murder suspect Eric Williams in Kaufman Thursday morning.

Sources said they were looking for evidence – specifically an upper from an AR-15. Video from SKY 4 showed them with shovels digging in a wooded area near a fence.
 
The search only lasted for a few hours. The investigators did not find what they were looking for.