ROCKWALL, Texas — The 12-member Rockwall County jury tasked with determining the outcome of a former justice of the peace accused in the murders of three has entered into deliberations just before 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, December 4, 2014. A little over an hour-and-a-half later, the jury returned with a guilty verdict.
ROCKWALL, Texas — The 12-member Rockwall County jury tasked with determining the outcome of a former justice of the peace accused in the murders of three has entered into deliberations just before 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, December 4, 2014. A little over an hour-and-a-half later, the jury returned with a guilty verdict.
Former Kaufman County Justice of the Peace Eric Williams was standing trial for the capital murder of Cynthia McLelland — the wife of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland. Both were killed in their Forney area home on March 30, 2013 — just months after Mike’s top prosecutor, Mark Hasse, was gunned down near the Kaufman County Courthouse.
The fourth day of trial began this morning with Defense Attorney Matthew Seymour motioning for a mistrial based on pool video which was fed live over the internet and may have broadcast the names of the jurors. Presiding Dallas County District Court Judge Mike Snipes denied the motion.
Snipes then read the court’s charge of capital murder to the jury just before the state and defense gave closing arguments.
Special Prosecutor Toby Shook opened the closing arguments for the state by piecing together all of the evidence into a narrative. According to Shook, Williams arranged for a storage unit in someones else’s name to which a “treasure trove” of evidence was recovered, purchased a Ford Crown Victoria with an alias, suited up in tactical gear with a sheriff’s emblem and made entry into the McLelland’s home on March 30, 2013, and gunned down Mike and Cynthia McLelland.
When Williams allegedly entered the McLelland’s home, “He became an effective and ruthless killing machine,” said Shook who also said Williams made two fatal mistakes — leaving a live round in the storage unit which was cycled through the same gun used in the McLelland killings based on ballistic examination and then leaving a crime stopper tip believing it would be anonymous.
Seymour began his closing argument by saying the state failed to present any single piece of evidence placing Williams in the home of the McLellands and failed to present a known murder weapon.
“They [the state] have a lack of subsequent evidence where it matters most,” said Seymour.
Seymour stated the gun shot residue test has “no meaningful conclusion or value” because it was done more than four hours after the shooting deaths of the McLellands — a time frame based on law enforcement standards.
Of the computer evidence, Seymour told the jury Eric Williams lived with his now-estranged wife, Kim, who he said could have made the anonymous crime stoppers tip. Kim is also charged and indicted for the capital murders of the three.
Seymour also called into question several pieces of the investigation and said the state’s witnesses, state and local government law enforcement investigators, officers, and employees, were “bias and support a conviction.” Calling the state’s case a “house of cards,” Seymour asked the jury to acquit his defendant and find Williams not guilty of capital murder.
"Do not force these facts to fit the indictment," said Seymour.
Special Prosecutor Bill Wirskye closed for the state and said, “If not Williams, then who?”
Wirskye described Williams of having a “seething and murderous rage” but is able to hide it under a “mask of normalcy.”
“Mike McLelland died because he stood in front of a judge and jury and sought justice,” said Wirskye speaking of the theft case in which McLelland and Hasse successfully convicted Williams.
“[Like Mike], I am standing up doing the same knowing there is a murderer in the courtroom,” said Wirskye. Speaking to the jury he said, “Now it’s your turn to seek justice. Now it’s your turn to stand up.”
The state has said they would seek the death penalty for Williams. The punishment phase will begin Monday morning, December 8, 2014.
Stay tuned to inForney.com for any developments in the trial.