Texas DA was shot 20 times, wife once, federal source says

[Sava]

America doesn't tolerate this sort of thing. I heard there was something like only 20 prosecutors killed across the country in the last 100 years. I'm not sure what this group thinks it is going to accomplish besides bringing the full force of the nation's law enforcement community against it. They will be crushed.

[MRT144]

America doesn't tolerate this sort of thing. I heard there was something like only 20 prosecutors killed across the country in the last 100 years. I'm not sure what this group thinks it is going to accomplish besides bringing the full force of the nation's law enforcement community against it. They will be crushed.

Truth!

[MRT144]

No they haven't. They are alive and well in a 3rd world war torn nation near you...

Mexico?

[Sava]

No they haven't. They are alive and well in a 3rd world war torn nation near you...

For my purposes, stuck in a third world nation is neutered... living in a cave, ****ing goats.

[Sava]

So, basically the same as 9/11 when they were in Afghanistan then...?

Yup. But now we have cockpit doors that lock... and airport security that gives body cavity searches to old women, disabled people and young children. If we do that to our own, imagine what we'd do to the darkies.

[Hauldren Collider]

Whoever's been blowing away DAs is going to find out just how enormous the resources US law enforcement can bring to bear. Hint: A lot.

[giblets]

Let's just hope they do it faster than the US military's enormous resources found Bin Laden.

[Dinner]

http://www.npr.org/2013/04/02/176035798/experts-prison-gang-reach-increasingly-extends-into-streets

[Kidlicious]

Yup. But now we have cockpit doors that lock... and airport security that gives body cavity searches to old women, disabled people and young children. If we do that to our own, imagine what we'd do to the darkies.

Giving random people body cavity searches is double plus good.

[The Mad Monk]

Affidavit: Wife of disgraced judge confessed in Kaufman County killings

Credit: WFAA

Kim Lene Williams, the 46-year-old wife of disgraced former Kaufman County Justice of the Peace Eric Williams, was arrested and charged with capital murder in the shooting deaths of prosecutor Mark Hasse and DA Mike McLelland and his wife Cynthia.

by REBECCA LOPEZ and MARJORIE OWENS
Bio | Email | Follow: @rlopezwfaa

WFAA

Posted on April 17, 2013 at 8:28 AM

KAUFMAN - Kim Lene Williams, the 46-year-old wife of disgraced former Kaufman County Justice of the Peace Eric Williams, was arrested and charged with capital murder in the shooting deaths of prosecutor Mark Hasse and DA Mike McLelland and his wife Cynthia.

An affidavit released by the sheriff's department Wednesday claims Mrs. Williams confessed that her husband was the person who pulled the trigger in all three shooting deaths.

Quoting from the affidavit: "Kim Williams described in detail her role along that of her husband, Eric Williams whom she reported to have shot to death Mark Hasse on January 31, 2013 and Michael and Cynthia McLelland on March 30, 2013."

The document alleges she told police details about the murders that were not made public.

She is currently being held at the Kaufman County Jail on a $10 million bond, said Lt. Justin Lewis, a spokesman with the Kaufman County Sheriff's Department, Wednesday afternoon.

"Out of respect for the families of the victims, during this time, we are not answering any questions at this briefing until we're able to brief the family on the events of the past several days," he said during a press conference.

Lewis said the sheriff's department will hold another press conference on the case at 1:30 p.m. Thursday.

Over the weekend, Mr. Williams, 46, was arrested on a terroristic threat charge. Sources told News 8 evidence linked Mr. Williams to the murders of prosecutor Mark Hasse, 57, and Mr. McLelland, 63, and Mrs. McLelland, 65.

He was arrested at his home early Saturday morning and is being held at the Kaufman County Jail on a $3 million bond.

Previous to Mrs. Williams' arrest, sources told News 8 authorities were awaiting ballistic test results on weapons found in a storage locker rented in Seagoville on behalf of the former justice of the peace. More than 20 weapons were found inside the locker.

Authorities also said they were able to trace a threatening e-mail sent to county officials the day after the McLellands were fatally shot in their home back to Mr. Williams. The e-mail, sent anonymously, threatened more attacks.

The McLellands were found shot to death in their Forney home on March 31. Their deaths came two months after the assistant district attorney Hasse was killed while walking to his office at the Kaufman County Courthouse on Jan. 31.

Mr. McLelland and Hasse were involved in the prosecution of Mr. Williams, who was convicted of stealing three computer monitors from the county and lost his license to practice law in March of 2012.

The two vigorously prosecuted Mr. Williams, with Hasse calling him a "liar," a "thief" and a crooked official." During that trial, Hasse revealed that Mr. Williams had threatened the lives of an ex-girlfriend and a Kaufman lawyer, wherein the former justice of the peace threatened to burn his house down and murder his family.

Mr. Williams is appealing his convictions.

Also during the trial, Mrs. Williams testified that she suffers from Sjogren's syndrome, an immune system disorder, and chronic fatigue syndrome and that her husband served as her caregiver, according to a report by The Forney Post.

http://www.wfaa.com/news/crime/wife-of-former-kaufman-county-justice-peace-eric-williams-arrested-on-capital-murder-charge-mike-mcklelland-da-203385451.html

[SlowwHand]

Both will be charged.

WFAA-TV
Quoting from the affidavit: "Kim Williams described in detail her role along that of her husband, Eric Williams whom she reported to have shot to death Mark Hasse on January 31, 2013 and Michael and Cynthia McLelland on March 30, 2013."

[Dr Strangelove]

To think they were going to let those nice innocent boys at Aryan Nation take the fall for them. Fie! Fie, I tell you!

[DinoDoc]

I think it's more of an update to a thread giving away the suspect.

[Docfeelgood]

WHAT!? She's involved with the Mexican drug cartel and Aryan nation? I would have never guessed that.

[-Jrabbit]

Good thing we have the Tsarnaevs to keep the terrorist narrative alive.

Here's an AP story with some details:

Eric Williams, Former Official, Charged With Capital Murder In Texas District Attorney Slayings

KAUFMAN, Texas — A former Texas justice of the peace seeking revenge for a theft conviction that ended his judicial career carried out a plot with his wife to kill the men who prosecuted him, authorities said Thursday.

Eric Lyle Williams, and his wife, Kim Williams, are charged with capital murder in the slayings of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland, his wife, Cynthia, and assistant prosecutor Mark Hasse.

Hasse and McLelland successfully prosecuted Eric Williams for theft last year, leading him to lose his law license and his position as justice of the peace – a judge who handles mostly administrative duties.

Authorities allege Williams, 46, was the gunman in all of the slayings. They say his wife, who is also 46, was the get-away driver when her husband shot Hasse on the street as he walked to work in January. They contend she was a passenger when her husband drove to the McLelland home to carry out those killings two months later, early on the morning of March 30.

"Basically, this was a collaborative effort between Eric Williams and his wife," Kaufman County Sheriff David Byrnes said at a news conference Thursday.

According to investigators, the prosecutors had been concerned Williams might be a threat to them, going so far as to carry handguns after his theft conviction last year. Though prosecutors had sought prison time for Williams, he was sentenced to probation.

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

The arrest warrants lay out a meticulous revenge plan, in which Eric Williams rented a storage unit in a friend's name to store a cache of weapons and a car that authorities say is tied to the McLellands' killings.

Byrnes said that while Williams "has always been on the radar" – investigators questioned him after Hasse's slaying and again after the McClellands' deaths – authorities did not have the evidence to tie everything together until this week.

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

According to a search warrant, Williams' friend contacted authorities last week and told them the former justice of the peace earlier this year had asked him to rent the storage unit. The friend said Williams needed it 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. According to the affidavit, Williams used a false name to purchase the Crown Victoria in February.

Also found were 41 firearms, 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.

After the McLellands were killed, authorities say they received emails in which the author confessed to all three slayings and threatened more violence against county officials. Though the author tried to hide his identity, investigators traced the emails to a computer in Williams' home, according to the warrant.

Eric Williams has been jailed since he was arrested Saturday and charged with making a terroristic threat for allegedly emailing the anonymous threat to law officers.

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.

Byrnes acknowledged the unusual circumstances, calling Eric Williams' arrest "mind-boggling."

Authorities believe Williams committed the murders as revenge for a highly contentious prosecution in which he was found guilty of stealing three computer monitors from an office building last year.

During the trial, McLelland and Hasse portrayed Williams as a dishonest public officials with a dangerous streak. During closing arguments, the prosecutors presented evidence indicating that 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 DA's office and later went into private practice with him, said he was stunned to learn that it was Eric Williams and his wife charged with his friend's slaying.

"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.

You give me probation? I kill you!