Kaufman County murders

Last updated

In 2013, two prosecutors and a prosecutor's wife were murdered in Kaufman County, Texas. The case gained national attention in the United States due to speculation that the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang was responsible, but this was later found to be untrue. Eric Lyle Williams (born April 7, 1967), [1] a former lawyer and justice of the peace whose theft case was prosecuted by two of the victims, was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to death for two of the murders. He was also charged with the murder of prosecutor Mark Hasse, but a decision was made not to prosecute him as he had already received a death sentence for the other murders. [2] His wife, Kimberly Irene "Kim" Williams, was tried separately, [3] and sentenced to 40 years in prison. [4]

Contents

Timeline

Hasse murder

On January 31, 2013, Mark Hasse was shot and killed while walking in the 100 block of East Grove Street in Kaufman, Texas. [5] Hasse was the chief assistant district attorney for the Kaufman County Criminal District Attorney's Office. [6] He was walking from his car to the courthouse when a gunman shot him repeatedly and then fled the area in a waiting car. [7] Hasse, 57, had been an attorney for many years, and had previously served as an assistant district attorney in Dallas County under District Attorney Henry Wade. He had worked for Kaufman County since 2010 as a prosecutor, and was also a licensed police officer commissioned with the district attorney's office.[ citation needed ]

A large manhunt was conducted by law-enforcement agencies, including the Kaufman Police Department, the Kaufman County Sheriff, several Kaufman County Constable's Offices, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the United States Marshals Service, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. [6] During the course of the investigation, a number of leads were followed and news of the investigation captured headlines across the nation. Most hypotheses involved allegations that the Aryan Brotherhood, a Neo-Nazi prison gang, had been responsible for the murder; they were later found to be untrue. [8] The speculation was made by other Kaufman defense attorneys acquainted with Hasse, who knew that Hasse “dealt with cases involving methamphetamine in the county involving gangs and white supremacist groups.” [6] [9]

McLelland murders

On March 30, 2013, the bodies of Kaufman County Criminal District Attorney Michael McLelland, 63, and his wife, Cynthia (Woodward) McLelland, 65, were found in their home located in Talty in rural Kaufman County. [10] The murdered couple was discovered by Dallas police officer C.J. Tomlinson and his step-father Skeet Phillips who were both family friends of the McLellands. [11] The duo entered the home to check on the couple after a family member was unable to contact them; [10] Tomlinson's mother had called him after her phone calls to both McLellands, trying to arrange a time to drop off vegetables for a dinner Cynthia McLelland was preparing for the Phillips family, had gone unanswered. [12] Tomlinson found the front door closed but unlocked — unusual in a situation in which McLelland had, like his colleagues, been particularly alert to personal safety since the Hasse murder — and noticed shell casings on the entryway floor as he carefully opened the door. [12] Both victims had been shot and killed in what was described as a home invasion-type assault on their property. [13]

McLelland had been elected to his office in 2010 and was widely viewed as an excellent replacement for the previous district attorney, who had been arrested for driving under the influence while in office. [14] Mike McLelland was an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve for 23 years, and worked as a clinical psychologist before pursuing a legal career. [15] Cynthia McLelland worked as a clinical psychologist for many years before becoming a psychiatric nurse at Terrell State Hospital. [10] [15]

Following the McLelland murders, numerous elected officials in the county were placed under protection by law-enforcement officers at home and at work. Security was visibly increased at the Kaufman County Courthouse. [13]

Arrests and trial

On April 18, 2013, Eric Lyle Williams and his wife, Kim, [16] were arrested for all three murders. Eric Williams, a former attorney and justice of the peace for Kaufman County, had been convicted of burglary and theft while in office and was the only person prosecuted by both McLelland and Hasse. Williams was out of jail on probation at the time of the murders. [17] [18]

The trial was moved out of Kaufman County as Williams' defense lawyers cited media coverage and its interference with a fair trial as reasons for change of venue. Kim Williams was held at the Kaufman County Law Enforcement Center in lieu of a $10 million bond. Williams' license to practice law, which had been suspended on October 10, 2012, was permanently revoked when he was disbarred on February 3, 2014. [19]

Eric Williams was found guilty of capital murder [20] at his trial in Rockwall County on December 4, 2014. [21] He was sentenced on December 17, 2014, to die by lethal injection. [22] As of October 2021, Eric Lyle Williams is incarcerated in the Polunsky Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) [23] [24] and is awaiting execution. The U.S. Supreme Court denied an appeal from Williams on May 14, 2018. [25] Williams filed a new appeal in August 2019. [26]

Kim Williams, after testifying against Eric in his trial, pled guilty to her role in planning and performing the murders, on December 30, 2014, and was sentenced to 40 years in prison. [27]

Media coverage

In March 2018, HarperCollins published a book on the cases written by veteran journalist Kathryn Casey, In Plain Sight: The Kaufman County Prosecutor Murders . The first journalist to go inside the prisons to interview Eric and Kim Williams, Casey conducted extensive interviews over a two-year period with both the convicted killers. During those sessions, Eric Williams denied any involvement in the killings and professed his innocence. In contrast, Kim Williams described in detail the events leading up to the murders and recounted the days of the killings. She claimed to regret her actions and acknowledged that she could have stopped her husband by contacting authorities before any of the victims died. Kim Williams filed for divorce while in prison, and it became final in January 2018. [28]

On August 4, 2022, the case was profiled on Forensic Files II in an episode titled "Marked for Murder."

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kaufman County, Texas</span> County in Texas, United States

Kaufman County is a county in the northeast area of the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 145,310. Its county seat is Kaufman. Both the county, established in 1848, and the city were named for David S. Kaufman, a U.S. Representative and diplomat from Texas. Kaufman County is part of the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan statistical area.

The Texas 7 were a group of prisoners who escaped from the John B. Connally Unit near Kenedy, Texas, on December 13, 2000. Six of the seven were apprehended over a month later, between January 21–23, 2001, as a direct result of the television show America's Most Wanted. The seventh committed suicide before he could be arrested. The six surviving members were all convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Irving, Texas, police officer Aubrey Wright Hawkins, who was shot and killed when responding to a robbery perpetrated by the Texas Seven. Four of the six sentenced have since been executed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital punishment in Texas</span> Overview of capital punishment in the U.S. state of Texas

Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Texas for murder, and participation in a felony resulting in death if committed by an individual who has attained or is over the age of 18.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Huntsville Unit</span> Texas state prison

Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville or Huntsville Unit (HV), nicknamed "Walls Unit", is a Texas state prison located in Huntsville, Texas, United States. The approximately 54.36-acre (22.00 ha) facility, near downtown Huntsville, is operated by the Correctional Institutions Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The facility, the oldest Texas state prison, opened in 1849.

Kerry Max Cook is an American former death row inmate who was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death for the rape and murder of 21-year-old Linda Jo Edwards in 1977.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Texas Department of Criminal Justice</span> Department of the government of Texas

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is a department of the government of the U.S. state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice for adult offenders, including managing offenders in state prisons, state jails, and private correctional facilities, funding and certain oversight of community supervision, and supervision of offenders released from prison on parole or mandatory supervision. The TDCJ operates the largest prison system in the United States.

This is a list of notable overturned convictions in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allan B. Polunsky Unit</span> State prison in West Livingston, Texas formerly known as the Terrell Unit

Allan B. Polunsky Unit is a prison in West Livingston, unincorporated Polk County, Texas, United States, located approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) southwest of Livingston along Farm to Market Road 350. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) operates the facility. The unit houses the State of Texas death row for men, and it has a maximum capacity of 2,900. Livingston Municipal Airport is located on the other side of FM 350. The unit, along the Big Thicket, is 60 miles (97 km) east of Huntsville.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellis Unit</span> Prison in Texas, United States

O. B. Ellis Unit is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison located in unincorporated Walker County, Texas, 12 miles (19 km) north of Huntsville. The unit, with about 11,427 acres (4,624 ha) of space,‌ now houses up to 2,400 male prisoners. Ellis is situated in a wooded area shared with the Estelle Unit, which is located 3 miles (4.8 km) away from Ellis. From 1965 to 1999 it was the location of the State of Texas men's death row.

Rick and Suzanna Wamsley were murdered on December 11, 2003 in their home in Mansfield, Texas, as part of a conspiracy involving their son Andrew and two others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Morton (criminal justice)</span>

Michael Morton is an American who was wrongfully convicted in 1987 in a Williamson County, Texas court of the 1986 murder of his wife Christine Morton. He spent nearly 25 years in prison before he was exonerated by DNA evidence which supported his claim of innocence and pointed to the crime being committed by another individual. Morton was released from prison on October 4, 2011, and another man, Mark Alan Norwood, was convicted of the murder in 2013. The prosecutor in the case, Ken Anderson, was convicted of contempt of court for withholding evidence after the judge had ordered its release to the defense.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kimberly McCarthy</span> American murderer (1961–2013)

Kimberly LaGayle McCarthy was an American death row inmate and suspected serial killer who was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1997 murder of her neighbor, 71-year-old retired college professor Dorothy Booth, in her Lancaster, Texas home during a robbery. She was a suspect in the murders of two other elderly Texas women, for which she was never tried.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">211 Crew</span> American white supremacist prison gang

211 Crew is a white supremacist prison gang, active both in and out of prison, that was formed in 1995 at Colorado's Denver County Jail. It was linked to several high-profile murders and criminal investigations. Those included the assassination of Colorado Department of Corrections head Tom Clements. Due to a threatening letter sent by a Texas Aryan Brotherhood member, it was suspected to be linked to similar assassinations of Texas district attorney Mike McLelland, and his assistant prosecutor Mark Hasse, but a former Justice of the Peace was eventually indicted for those murders.

The William P. "Bill" Clements Unit (BC) is a state prison of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) located in unincorporated Potter County, Texas, United States, east of Downtown Amarillo. It is located on Spur 591 off of Loop 335.

William G. McConnell Unit (ML) is a Texas state prison located in unincorporated Bee County, Texas, along Texas State Highway 181, 1 mile (1.6 km) east of the city limits of Beeville. It is a part of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Charles Graves</span> American exonerated death row inmate

Anthony Charles Graves is the 138th exonerated death row inmate in America. With no record of violence, he was arrested at 26 years old, wrongfully convicted, and incarcerated for 18 years before finally being exonerated and released. He was awarded $1.4 million for the time he spent imprisoned, and the prosecutor who put him in prison was ultimately disbarred for concealing exculpatory evidence and using false testimony in the case.

William Hawthorne Wirskye is a prominent Texas prosecutor who is currently the First Assistant District Attorney in the Collin County District Attorney's Office in Collin County, Texas. Wirskye is best known for being the lead prosecutor who tried the Kaufman County DA murders, which ultimately resulted in the death penalty for the defendant, former Justice of the Peace of Kaufman County, Eric Williams. Before that, he was a Dallas County prosecutor for 12 years.

Robert Lynn Pruett was a Texas man convicted and executed for the 1999 murder of TDCJ Correctional Officer Daniel Nagle at the McConnell Unit, Bee County. Pruett had been certified as an adult at 16 and was already serving a 99-year sentence for his involvement in the murder of Ray Yarborough, which occurred when Pruett was 15. Pruett was convicted along with Howard Steven "Sam" Pruett Sr., his father, who received a life sentence for his participation in the murder, and Howard Steven Pruett Jr., his brother, who received a 40-year sentence. Howard Sr. testified that neither son took part in the killing, as did Robert, who was nonetheless convicted under the Texas law of parties. Details of both the Yarborough and Nagle murders were featured in the BBC documentary Life and Death Row - Crisis Stage.

<i>In Plain Sight</i> (Casey book)

In Plain Sight: The Kaufman County Prosecutor Murders is a true crime account by American journalist and author Kathryn Casey of the 2013 murders of two prosecutors and a wife by a disgruntled justice of the peace. William Morrow released the book in March 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soldiers of Aryan Culture</span> White supremacist prison gang in the United States

The Soldiers of Aryan Culture (SAC), sometimes referred to as Soldiers of the Aryan Culture and Soldiers of an Aryan Culture, is a large American white supremacist prison gang.

References

  1. ↑ "Death Row Information". www.tdcj.texas.gov. Retrieved 2020-09-18.
  2. ↑ "Eric Williams Jury Hears About Hasse's Death - CBS Texas". www.cbsnews.com. 2014-12-08. Retrieved 2023-07-05.
  3. ↑ Williams, Eric Lyle, Texas Department of Criminal Justice; retrieved May 14, 2017.
  4. ↑ Emily, Jennifer (2014-12-30). "Wife of convicted Kaufman County killer sentenced to 40 years in prison". The Dallas Morning News . Retrieved 2017-05-14.
  5. ↑ Janda, Greg; Sakmari, Elvira; Horne, Chris (February 9, 2013). "Memorial for Kaufman ADA Mark Hasse Held Saturday". NBC DFW. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
  6. 1 2 3 Heinz, Frank (January 31, 2013). "Kaufman Co. Asst. DA Mark Hasse Likely Targeted in Fatal Shooting: Police". NBC DFW. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
  7. ↑ Hoffer, Steven (February 4, 2013). "Mark Hasse Murder: Disputes Emerge Over Slain Kaufman County Prosecutor's Behavior". Huffington Post. Retrieved May 10, 2013.
  8. ↑ Koplowitz, Howard (14 April 2013). "'Strong Evidence' Eric L. Williams Murdered Texas Prosecutors Mike McClelland, Mark Hasse: Report [PHOTO]". International Business Times. Retrieved May 10, 2013.
  9. ↑ Gordon, Scott; Van Horne, Chris (January 31, 2013). "Friend of Slain Asst. DA Speaks Out". NBC DFW. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
  10. 1 2 3 Siron, Chris (March 31, 2013). "Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland, wife found dead in home". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
  11. ↑ Lindsley, Gary (December 1, 2014). "Jurors see gruesome photos of McLelland murders". The Terrell Tribune. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
  12. 1 2 NBC News. "Vendetta," Dateline, February 27, 2015.
  13. 1 2 Solis, Susy. "Extra Security At Kaufman County Courthouse". CBS DFW. Retrieved May 10, 2013.
  14. ↑ Emily, Jennifer. "Former Kaufman County DA guilty of second DWI". Dallas News. Retrieved May 10, 2013.
  15. 1 2 "Mike and Cynthia McLelland" (Obituary). Dallas Morning News. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
  16. ↑ Lauren D'Avolio, Serge F. Kovaleski and Ethan Bronnerapril, "Charges Set in Killings of Officials in Texas", April 18, 2013, New York Times , at
  17. ↑ Emily, Jennifer. "Suspect in Kaufman County DA murders waives oral arguments in appeal of case law enforcement cites as motive for killings". Dallas News. Retrieved May 10, 2013.
  18. ↑ Stephens, Marshall. "Eric, Kim Williams could face death penalty if convicted for DA killings". KLTV. Retrieved May 10, 2013.
  19. ↑ Profile, State Bar of Texas; accessed August 16, 2018.
  20. ↑ "TDCJ Offender Details". offender.tdcj.texas.gov. Retrieved December 10, 2016.
  21. ↑ Eiserer, Tanya (December 4, 2014). "Jury to deliberate fate of Eric Williams Monday". WFAA.com.
  22. ↑ "Kaufman County killer Eric Williams sentenced to death". KDFW Fox News. Associated Press. December 17, 2014.
  23. ↑ "Eric Lyle Williams | Texas Prison Inmates". The Texas Tribune. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 10, 2016.
  24. ↑ Texas Inmates feature, Texas Tribune, at Texas Prison Inmates.
  25. ↑ "Texas Inmate To Die This Week Loses At Court, Parole Board". CBS-TV. Retrieved May 14, 2018.
  26. ↑ Williams files new appeal, krld.radio.com. Accessed October 25, 2022.
  27. ↑ "Wife of convicted Kaufman County killer sentenced to 40 years in prison". Dallas Morning News. 29 July 2018. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
  28. ↑ "Divorce finalized for couple convicted in Kaufman County murders". inforney.com. Retrieved August 16, 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.