KAUFMAN COUNTY, Texas — With just two weeks before the start of the Eric Williams’ murder trial in Rockwall County, CBS’s Criminal Minds references the deaths of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his top assistant, Mark Hasse.
KAUFMAN COUNTY, Texas — With just two weeks before the start of the Eric Williams’ murder trial in Rockwall County, CBS’s Criminal Minds references the deaths of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his top assistant, Mark Hasse.
Criminal Minds Season 10, Episode 8, entitled “The Boys of Sudworth Place” which aired on Wednesday, November 19, 2014, revolves around the story of a prominent prosecutor turned defense attorney who was abducted — the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) is tasked with combing through the attorney’s case load to determine possible suspects.
Just four minutes into the episode, BAU Supervisory Special Agent Derek Morgan, played by Shemar Moore, was attempting to link a suspect from past court cases prosecuted by the attorney, notably the prosecution of a key members of a crime family.
Dr. Spencer Reid, played by Matthew Gray Gubler, states, “It wouldn’t be the first time a convict targeted an attorney. Just last year in Texas, Eric Lyle Williams killed two prosecutors.”
Back to the Kaufman County killings, stale, local, and federal officials combed through hundreds, if not thousands, of past criminal cases after Hasse was gunned down in broad daylight on January 31, 2013, just a block from the Kaufman County Courthouse. Hasse had assisted the Department of Justice investigating key members of the Aryan Brotherhood.
Months later, McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, were gunned down in their Forney area home over Easter weekend.
Investigators were eventually led to Eric Lyle Williams and his now-estranged wife, Kim Lene Williams, who they allege shot and killed all three individuals. Eric Williams is a former justice of the peace in Kaufman County who was prosecuted by both Hasse and McLelland the year before for theft which resulted in the unseating of Williams and the loss of his law license.
After successfully getting the trial moved from Kaufman County to Rockwall County, Williams’ defense team has again requested the trial be moved further away from Kaufman County due to pervasive and extensive media coverage which could make it difficult for Williams to receive a fair trial.
“The extent of said publicity has been inflammatory and unfair and created such hostility toward the defendant and prejudiced the opinions of members of the community to such a degree that it is unlikely a jury could be selected which could render a verdict solely on the evidence presented at trial,” defense attorney Matthew Seymour stated in a motion for change of venue last month.
That motion was denied.
Eric Williams will appear in the Rockwall County courthouse for the capital murder trial in the death of Cynthia McLelland in December 2014.
Both Williams remained jailed on several million dollar bonds.
