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Thread: Eric Lyle Williams - Texas Death Row

  1. #51
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Hearing set for next month to look at claims of ‘brain damage’ by convicted Kaufman DA killer Eric Williams

    A judge has set a date for a hearing to examine claims of “brain damage” from the attorneys of convicted killer Eric Lyle Williams, 47.

    Defense attorneys will make their case Feb. 24 before visiting judge Webb Biard. They asked for a new trial based on scans of Williams’ brain.

    Williams was sent to death row in December for the assassinations of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland, his wife, Cynthia, and a top prosecutor, Mark Hasse. Hasse, 57, was shot and killed in January 2013 as he walked to work at the

    Kaufman courthouse. The Mike, 63, and Cynthia McLelland, 65, were shot and killed two months later in their Forney home over Easter weekend.

    The murders were carried out as revenge for Mike McLelland and Hasse prosecuting Williams for stealing county computer monitors. Williams was convicted and lost his spot as justice of the peace and his law license.

    Defense attorneys say brain scans could have resulted in a jury giving Williams a sentence of life without parole instead of death. But legal and medical experts say it’s difficult to determine if there is brain damage from images alone.

    http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/2015...williams.html/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  2. #52
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Kaufman DA killer Eric Williams wants a new trial

    KAUFMAN (WFAA) - Lawyers for convicted killer Eric Williams say his brain is broken.

    They say if they had been able to present that evidence at trial, it would have made a difference for the 12-member jury that sent him to Death Row in December.

    "Eric Williams was denied the opportunity to present some importance evidence to the jury," said defense attorney John Wright during a hearing Wednesday at the Kaufman County Courthouse.

    Two months ago, a jury decided the former justice of the peace should die for the ruthless killings of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland, his wife Cynthia, and the county's top prosecutor, Mark Hasse.

    Williams himself was brought from Death Row for the hearing on Wednesday. He was shackled and unshaven, not looking the part of the confident lawyer he once was. Williams didn't stay long, though. His attorneys said he simply didn't want to be there, and he was returned to his jail cell.

    Visiting Judge Webb Biard is hearing the motion for a new trial.

    At issue: Trial Judge Mike Snipes' refusal to pay for brain testing in time to get it done before the first trial ended.

    Prior to the start of that trial, the defense team had requested money to pay for brain testing. Snipes initially denied that request. The judge granted the request to pay for the tests during the trial, but denied a motion to delay the proceedings.

    "We believe that had we been allowed, we would have been able to develop a more persuasive mitigation case based on mental health," Wright said.

    The testing was not completed until after the trial was over.

    On Thursday the hearing continued with Dr. Steven Yount testifying that Williams' diabetes was out of control. Yount said he has both Hypoglycemia and Hyperglycemia, meaning his blood sugar levels yo-yo up and down and could lead to psychiatric illness. He also said Williams told him he didn't kill anyone.

    Dr. Yount says that after the court agreed to pay for the brain testing, they tried to get it done before the trial ended. They couldn't find a facility in time, so testing was done in early January.

    Prosecutor Bill Wirskye pointed out that initial evaluations of his brain scans found nothing "remarkable" and said Williams sought social security disability benefits.

    Dr. Yount testified that he told the defense last May that they might want to do brain scans, but they didn't ask the judge for testing until right before the trial started.

    During the hearing on Wednesday, a neuroradiologist Dr. William Orrison testified that he examined Williams' brain scans and found evidence of brain trauma. He said Williams has damage to the parts of the brain that control decision-making, emotion, and understanding of consequences.

    "There were two parts of the brain that appear to be particularly abnormal," Orrison said.

    Williams has diabetes, which has previously caused him to lose consciousness. He also has sleep apnea. Orrison said both of those conditions could have caused brain damage.

    Williams' defense team also is contending that Snipes was biased against their client, and was making facial expressions during the trial. They are seeking video from KTVT from the trial. Baird ordered the news station to turn whatever trial video they have over by 5 p.m. Friday.

    The McLellands died at their Forney home in a "torrent of lead" fired from an assault rifle over Easter weekend in 2013. Two months earlier, a masked gunman assassinated top prosecutor Mark Hasse in broad daylight as he walked to the courthouse in downtown Kaufman.

    Investigators said Williams meticulously planned to kill McLelland and Hasse. He harbored a deadly grudge because they had prosecuted him for stealing county computer monitors.

    Cynthia McLelland wasn't on Williams' death list. He referred to her as "collateral damage."

    http://www.cbs19.tv/story/28211992/k...ts-a-new-trial
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  3. #53
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Judge denies new trial for Kaufman killer Eric Williams

    KAUFMAN (WFAA) – A judge denied convicted killer Eric Williams' request for a new trial Monday.

    Afterward, visiting Judge Webb Biard ordered that Williams be returned to death row. He had been in the Kaufman County jail, pending the outcome of the hearing.

    Last December, a jury found the former justice of the peace guilty in the ruthless 2013 killing spree that claimed the lives of District Attorney Mike McLelland, his wife, Cynthia and top prosecutor, Mark Hasse. The McLellands were gunned down in their homes with an assault rifle over the Easter weekend. Hasse was murdered just a block from the courthouse two months earlier.

    Williams was seeking a new trial in hearings that began last week.

    Biard rejected the claims made by Williams' defense team that the trial judge, Mike Snipes, was biased against him. He also rejected their claims that Williams was denied a fair trial because Snipes wouldn't delay his December trial in order for brain scans to be performed on him.

    The judge's deadline for ruling on the motion for trial was Monday. The court of criminal appeals rejected a motion to extend the deadline.

    In their statements Monday, defense and prosecutors did agree on one thing: There's something terribly wrong with Eric Williams.

    But they had far different explanations for it.

    Defense attorney John Wright said that Williams' brain was "atrophied," "shrunken," and "broken." He contended that brain scans done after the trial was over showed that the moral center of Williams' brain was damaged.

    "When you think about Eric Williams being an intelligent person, an educated person, a person with a degree and law license at one time, one has to believe - you'd have to conclude - that there's something terribly wrong with his mind," Wright said.

    Wright cited other incidents involving Williams, including the time that he threatened to burn a lawyer's house down and kill his wife and kids over a scheduling error.

    "He just can't say 'no' like the rest of us can," Wright said.

    But even their own experts could not agree.

    "You'd have to look far and wide [...] in Texas to find a crime that is more planned, more complex, that is filled with more strategic thinking and tactical planning," Wirskye said. "This is sophisticated planning with lots of thinking."

    Wirskye also pointed out that the defense had plenty of time to get brain scans done before the trial, that their own medical expert had told them months before the trial that they should have them done.

    It wasn't until Nov. 9, 2014 - just a few weeks before trial - that defense attorneys asked Snipes to approve funding for brain scans, he said.

    "Judge Snipes never denied that motion," Wirskye said. "He asked for additional support to support the basis of the motion."

    The defense did not provide written documentation showing why they needed the brain scans until just days before trial. The judge agreed to pay for the scans, but refused to delay the trial.

    Wirskye had a far simpler explanation of Wiliams' actions.

    "The only thing wrong with Eric Williams is he's a psychopath," Wirskye said. "Something is wrong, but it's wrong with his mind and heart. His heart is dark and evil."

    http://www.cbs19.tv/story/28243647/j...-eric-williams
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  4. #54
    Member Member giallohunter's Avatar
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    Documentary about this case.

    48 Hours: Target Justice

    Target Justice
    FEBRUARY 12, 2016, 8:00 PM|A Texas town on edge -- someone was killing prosecutors. Was it a gang hit or could the killer be one of their own? "48 Hours" correspondent Richard Schlesinger investigates.

  5. #55
    Moderator Ryan's Avatar
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    Appeal filed for man sent to death row for Kaufman Co. DA killings

    By Cody Lillich
    KLTV

    KAUFMAN COUNTY, TX - Eric Lyle Williams, a former Kaufman County justice of the peace who now sits on Texas’ death row, has had an appeal filed on his sentence in the trial of the 2013 murder of Cynthia McLelland.

    Cynthia and her husband, Mike McLelland, the Kaufman County District Attorney, were gunned down by Williams at their home near Forney months after the county’s first assistant district attorney, Mark Hasse, was shot and killed near the Kaufman County Courthouse.

    Attorneys for Williams are asking for him to be taken off of death row and instead given a life sentence without parole. In the appeal, Williams’ lawyers raise 40 issues involving the guilt/innocence trial, punishment trial, and instructions given to the jury. The trial was held in neighboring Rockwall County in 2014.

    One of those complaints is about the inclusion of Mark Hasse’s death during the trial over the death of Cynthia McLelland.

    Williams had filed a motion for a new trial in January 2015 after being convicted, but that motion was denied.

    The crime spree rocked the small East Texas city of Kaufman. Months went by not knowing who was responsible or who might be targeted next.

    Investigators would discover the shootings were part of a revenge plot by Eric Williams to get back at the people he believed were responsible for convicting him of stealing county property. That conviction ended his career as justice of the peace with the county.

    The prosecutors in that case were District Attorney Mike McLelland and First Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse. Williams’ wife, Kim, took the stand in his murder trial, admitting her role as getaway driver in the murders. She was sentenced to 40 years in prison for her role in the killings.

    She said her husband had targeted more people, including Erleigh Wiley, the current Kaufman County District Attorney and Retired State District Judge Glen Ashworth, her husband’s former boss.

    “We’re all still in danger so I don’t know if I’m stepping into anymore danger than I already was in,” Wiley said in April 2014 when taking the office of district attorney.

    “To the people of Kaufman County, I know you’ve been scared the last couple of years, no reason to be scared anymore,” Judge Mike Snipes said after the trial concluded.

    Williams’ attorneys say while in custody their client has been compliant and has not been disciplined and that a life sentence without parole should be granted.

    http://www.kltv.com/story/31879124/a...co-da-killings

  6. #56
    Senior Member CnCP Legend FFM's Avatar
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    Conviction and death sentence affirmed.

    http://search.txcourts.gov/SearchMed...0-30fc86267db3

  7. #57
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    In today's United States Supreme Court orders, Williams' petition writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis were DENIED.

    Lower Ct: Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas
    Case Numbers: (AP-77,053)
    Decision Date: November 1, 2017

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/search....c/17-7603.html

  8. #58
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    True Crime Chronicles podcast: The rage of Eric Williams

    KAUFMAN, Texas — Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and wife Cynthia died at their Forney home in a "torrent of lead" fired from an assault rifle over Easter weekend in 2013.

    Two months earlier, a masked gunman assassinated top prosecutor Mark Hasse in broad daylight as he walked to the courthouse in downtown Kaufman.

    Investigators said Eric Williams, who is a former justice of the peace, meticulously planned to kill McLelland and Hasse. He harbored a deadly grudge because they had prosecuted him for stealing county computer monitors. Cynthia McLelland wasn't on Williams' death list. He referred to her as "collateral damage."

    Reporter Tanya Eiserer worked as a newspaper reporter for 17 years before coming to WFAA. She remembers the morning she heard about the first murder, and the tense months that followed.

    This week, Eiserer shares details of the story she helped cover on the podcast True Crime Chronicles.

    A man out for revenge

    Eric Williams just couldn't let it go.

    He’d lost his job, his livelihood, health insurance for himself and his wife. All just for a few computer monitors. Three to be exact.

    But the damage was done. And Williams was planning revenge.

    His wife would later describe the warning signs.

    How his anger went beyond anything that might be considered normal. How he once pulled a gun on a couple in a parking lot. How he killed cats because he didn't like them. How he had threatened at times to kill her and himself.

    But this time he meant business. Williams wasn't just making threats. He planned to kill the people who had brought him down.

    He had a list of people. He’d bought bolt cutters and a crossbow and told his wife about his plans. He put napalm in pickle jars, telling her he planned to use it to blow out his victim’s stomach.

    Fatal shooting rocks small town

    Kaufman is a nice, quiet town just outside of Dallas. Just outside the county courthouse in town, 57-year-old Kaufman County Prosecutor Mark Hasse was gunned down in broad daylight.

    It happened on Jan. 31, 2013.

    The killer, Williams, and his wife had gotten up early that January morning. They drove to an auto parts store and picked up a getaway car he’d bought a few days earlier.

    Kim Williams drove the car to downtown Kaufman and parked near Hasse’s “usual spot.”

    Eric Williams wore a black Halloween mask, a black jacket and a bulletproof vest. His wife later described him as “happy, excited happy, nervous.”

    When she asked her husband if Hasse had said anything, he only said “no, no, please no.”

    Kim Williams would later describe Eric as happy, even cocky, as they watched a news conference later that night. He’d killed one of his enemies and gotten away with it and he planned to kill more.

    The brazen nature of the crime sent shockwaves through the town. And people were scared.

    After a few weeks, the official investigation seemed to hit a wall.

    The DA wasn't letting up after the murder of one of its own, but the case still seemed to lose steam -- no leads, very little evidence, no suspects.

    Another killing, a break in the case

    Just as Easter arrived in Texas and the Dallas suburbs, Eiserer got another phone call about a killing.

    This time, it’s the District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife Cynthia.

    Mike, 63, had 16 gunshot wounds and his wife Cynthia, 65, had eight.

    There was an increased level of fear as people wondered who might be next.

    But investigators found a common thread between McLelland and Hasse: Eric Williams.

    Police paid a visit to Williams house.

    A number, a unique identifier, that Williams was given when he decided to call CrimeStoppers himself, not once, but twice, was found in his home by investigators.

    A man who served in the Texas National Guard with Eric Williams called police. He told investigators he had rented a storage unit in his own name for Eric Williams.

    Inside police found enough evidence to arrest Eric Williams. The key piece of evidence was a live round that investigators determine had cycled through the weapon that killed the McLellands.

    Ultimately, he was charged with capital murder. A disgruntled, bitter, former judge convicted of stealing computer monitors.

    Later, Eric’s wife Kim Williams decides to cooperate to save herself and shares more evidence with investigators.

    She tells them about some items that were thrown in Lake Tawakoni. After searching for an extended period of time they find a mask, a cell phone and a gun.

    That evidence is important because it backs up Kim Williams' story that they had disposed of the items after killing the McLellands.

    Putting Eric Williams behind bars ended much of the fear that had been spreading through Kaufman County, but it opened new doors and insight into the dark corners of Eric Williams' twisted mind.

    Later, investigators learned Eric Williams had a list of more people he wanted to kill. He had a kill list.

    That and other details would come out in the trial.

    Trial gets underway for Eric Williams

    As Eric Williams’ trial got underway in December 2014, the courtroom heard more about how the murders took place, including how he got inside the McLelland’s house.

    He dressed up as an officer, including with a badge. That's how he got them to lower their fears.

    Kim Williams testified that her husband told her he had to shoot Cynthia McLelland an extra time because she was still moaning. He told Kim he shot Cynthia because she was a witness, in the wrong place at the wrong time.

    Jurors also heard about Eric Williams’ history of violence and threats. Multiple witnesses testified to hearing Eric Williams threaten to kill people.

    The trial lasted two weeks and in the end, Eric Williams was found guilty.

    During the penalty phase of the trial, as jurors considered the death penalty for Eric Williams, his wife Kim took the stand.

    She drove the car, waited outside, was with her husband for all three murders -- a willing accomplice. But she testified he was a dangerous man, clearly meant to convince jurors that he should be sentenced to death.

    In the end, all 12 jurors agreed that he should be.

    At one time, Eric Williams had held court as a justice of the peace. After his conviction, he left the courtroom a condemned man.

    For now, Eric Williams sits on death row in Texas and his lawyers have appealed without success.

    https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/cr...4-4c6b4e7b8a28
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  9. #59
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Eric Williams Death Penalty Appeal Denied

    Former Kaufman County Judge Eric Williams will stay on death row after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected his death penalty appeal.

    Eric Williams murdered Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife Cynthia on Easter weekend in 2013.

    Williams was sentenced to death partly based on the testimony of his former wife, Kim. Williams appealed, one reason, he claimed, his court-appointed attorney Maxwell Peck, was ineffective, leading the jury in odd ways during closing arguments.

    But the Court of Criminal Appeals found all questions about the case have been resolved.

    Now it will be up to a trial judge to set a final execution date.

    (source: radio.com)
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  10. #60
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    On October 2, 2020, Williams filed a habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    https://dockets.justia.com/docket/te...cv03030/339009
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