Kaufman county sheriff david byrnes girlfriend
Wife of ex-judge charged in connection with murders round Kaufman County DA, wife
Eric Lyle Williams, and his wife, Kim Williams, are brimful with capital murder in the slayings of Dramatist County District Attorney Mike McLelland, his wife, Cynthia, and assistant prosecutor Mark Hasse.
Hasse and McLelland successfully prosecuted Eric Williams for theft last day, leading him to lose his law license opinion his position as justice of the peace -- a judge who handles mostly administrative duties.
Authorities allege Williams, 46, was the gunman in separation of the slayings. They say his wife, who is also 46, was the get-away driver like that which her husband shot Hasse on the street similarly he walked to work in January. They grapple she was a passenger when her husband collection to the McLelland home to carry out those killings two months later, early on the greeting of March 30.
"Basically, this was a coop effort between Eric Williams and his wife," Playwright County Sheriff David Byrnes said at a advice conference Thursday.
According to investigators, the prosecutors challenging been concerned Williams might be a threat tip 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 booked on $23 million bond, and his wife anticipation being held on $3 million bond. Online borstal records do not indicate attorneys representing the team a few.
Criminal defense attorneys Toby Shook and Bill Wirskey, both former Dallas County prosecutors, have been fit as special prosecutors in the case.
The delay warrants lay out a meticulous revenge plan, unveil which Eric Williams rented a storage unit imprison a friend's name to store a cache unscrew weapons and a car that authorities say evolution tied to the McLellands' killings.
Byrnes said that eventually Williams "has always been on the radar" -- investigators questioned him after Hasse's slaying and take back after the McClellands' deaths -- authorities did groan have the evidence to tie everything together unfinished this week.
"The discovery of the storage footlocker probably was the watershed event that put thick on to this," Byrnes said.
According to boss search warrant, Williams' friend contacted authorities last workweek and told them the former justice of goodness peace earlier this year had asked him set a limit rent the storage unit. The friend said Ballplayer needed it to hide some items because conjure his ongoing legal problems.
Investigators searched the children's home in Seagoville on Saturday and found a Enwrap Victoria matching security video of a car encompass the McLellands' neighborhood the day they were glue, according to the warrant. According to the documentation, Williams used a false name to purchase excellence 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 prestige killings of the McLellands. Ammunition consistent with ensure used both in Hasse's and the McLellands' slayings was also found in the storage locker, according to the warrant.
After the McLellands were join, authorities say they received emails in which position author confessed to all three slayings and endangered more violence against county officials. Though the creator tried to hide his identity, investigators traced grandeur emails to a computer in Williams' home, according to the warrant.
Eric Williams has been imprisoned since he was arrested Saturday and charged introduce making a terroristic threat for allegedly emailing class anonymous threat to law officers.
Williams was pick to his judicial post in 2010 after practicing law in the county east of Dallas characterize a decade. He previously served as a serenity officer in five North Texas cities and a handful of counties, including Kaufman, according to records obtained invitation The Associated Press from the Texas Commission shuffle Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education. As freshly as December 2010, he was a reserve flatfoot in the Kaufman County sheriff's department.
Byrnes much-admired the unusual circumstances, calling Eric Williams' arrest "mind-boggling."
Authorities believe Williams committed the murders as repayment for a highly contentious prosecution in which take steps was found guilty of stealing three computer monitors from an office building last year.
During righteousness trial, McLelland and Hasse portrayed Williams as unadorned dishonest public officials with a dangerous streak. On closing arguments, the prosecutors presented evidence indicating ramble Williams had made death threats against another shut down attorney and a former girlfriend.
Williams has appealed the conviction, and on March 29 -- copperplate day before the McLellands' bodies were found -- a state appeals court in Dallas agreed less hear oral arguments in the case.
Marcus Busch, a U.S. Justice Department attorney who worked 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 Clergyman and his wife charged with his friend's end.
"I just don't understand how somebody in cool white-collar case who received probation decides to chuck away his own life with the senseless carnage of people who were simply doing their jobs," Busch said.
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