ROCKWALL, Texas – Former Kaufman County Justice of the Peace Eric Williams, the man indicted and awaiting trial for the murders of Kaufman County Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse, District Attorney Mike McLelland, and his wife, Cynthia, appeared in court today at the Rockwall County Courthouse.
ROCKWALL, Texas – Former Kaufman County Justice of the Peace Eric Williams, the man indicted and awaiting trial for the murders of Kaufman County Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse, District Attorney Mike McLelland, and his wife, Cynthia, appeared in court today at the Rockwall County Courthouse.
Visiting Dallas County District Judge Mike Snipes heard several motions in the case including a third motion for continuance which Snipes denied. The trial is scheduled to begin December 1, 2014, with jury selection scheduled to begin later this month on September 22, 2014.
Defense attorney Matthew Seymour again stressed the “enormous” amount of evidence in the case would not grant his client a thorough and adequate trial. Seymour also compared the state's witness list to a phone book and stated the amount of evidence in this case is a third of the amount of evidence so far collected in the Boston bombings trial.
If the case moves forward on December 1, 2014, the defense would have had 20 months to prepare their case, stated Snipes. “The public and the defendant have right to a speedy trial,” he said.
Snipes granted a defense motion for a bench warrant which would require Kim Lene Williams, the estranged wife of Eric Williams who is also indicted for the murders, to appear before the court but stated Kim would not be required to testify if she exercises her fifth amendment rights.
The defense sought to reveal an apparent plea agreement between the state and Kim Williams for her “substantial involvement” in the case. Kim is believed to have tipped off the state to the location of evidence dumped in Lake Tawakoni off the State Highway 276 bridge in Hunt County. Two firearms were recovered – one linked to the murder of Hasse and the other linked to Kim via purchase records.
“There is no deal with Kim Williams, very simple,” stated Special Prosecutor Bill Wirskye who said hinting to an agreement with the media present in the courtroom was “wrong.”
The defense also sought to withhold any evidence from the Hasse murder in the guilt/innocence phase of this McLelland's murder trial. To introduce evidence in the Hasse murder into the McLelland's murder trial would be like having a “trial within a trial,” stated Seymour.
The state argued, and Snipes agreed, the murders of Hasse and the McLellands are intricately intertwined based on the theory the murders were carried out in a revenge plot after Eric Williams was tried and convicted of theft which resulted in his removal from his seat as a justice of the peace in Kaufman County and the loss of his law license.
Although the state has not yet introduced evidence from the Hasse murder, Wirskye stated, “If we do intend to, we will approach.” Snipes said he would allow the prosecution of Williams for theft to be introduced.
The killing of a prosecutor is very unique, stated Wirksye, and when two are killed, its unprecedented. “This case is different. This is not a simple crime, it's complex,” he said.
The Federal Bureau of Investigations, ATF, Texas Rangers, and the Kaufman County Sheriff's Office returned to the Williams' home in Kaufman, Texas, yesterday with an evidence response teams and recovery dogs to continue searching for evidence.
