FORNEY, Texas — More than a decade after former Justice of the Peace Eric Williams murdered Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McClelland and his wife, Cynthia, as well as Prosecutor Mark Hasse, Williams has filed a 160-page request for a new death penalty trial.
FORNEY, Texas — More than a decade after former Justice of the Peace Eric Williams murdered Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McClelland and his wife, Cynthia, as well as Prosecutor Mark Hasse, Williams has filed a 160-page request for a new death penalty trial.
This comes after Eric Williams was sentenced to death by a Rockwall County Jury in 2014. Since 2014, Williams has exhausted efforts to have his sentence overturned. The new filing claims that his defense didn’t have enough time to prepare for the state's case, the judge was biased, and that moving the trial to Rockwall County didn’t suffice the attempt to stifle publicity.
Williams had a kill list that was presented as evidence at trial, a list that included current Kaufman County Criminal District Attorney Erleigh Norville Wiley.
Throughout the years, Williams has made numerous attempts to reverse his case, including saying that his brain was “broken” due to mismanaged diabetes. In 2018, the United States Supreme Court denied his writ of certiorari.
William's wife, Cynthia, is currently serving 40 years for being an accomplice.