Tuesday morning, one of the last remaining mysteries in the trial of Eric Williams was answered: His estranged wife would indeed participate in the proceedings. Kim Williams took the stand to describe how she and Williams plotted and executed the killings of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McClellend, his wife Cynthia and one of his top prosecutors, Mark Hasse. Williams was convicted of killing Cynthia McClellend on December 4. He and his attorneys are now trying to avoid his being killed by the state of Texas.
Kim Williams said she was guilty of capital murder early in her testimony. She hasn't been offered a deal by prosecutors, but she was hoping to save her life with her testimony, she said, as she described the murders and her relationship with Eric Williams.
There was "excitement in the air" the day she and her husband -- who she said pulled the trigger in all three murders -- killed Hasse. The prosecutor had had the gall to convict Williams for filching county computer equipment, causing Williams to lose his justice of the peace gig. The Williamses decided he deserved to die.
The couple waited in a car near the Kaufman County Courthouse, Kim Williams said. When they saw Hasse, Eric Williams got out of the car and shot him. Hasse'd told Eric Williams "no, please no" as Williams shot him, Williams told his wife on what she called a "happy, satisfied and quiet" ride home.
Two months later, Kim Williams said she was happy as she sat in the getaway car, hearing the shots that killed the McClellends. When Eric Williams returned to the car, he told Kim that he'd had to shoot Cynthia McClellend one more time, because she was still moaning. Again satisfied, the couple went to Kim Williams' parents house. Eric Williams grilled steaks and the family had a celebration.
Had they not been caught, Kim Williams testified, Eric Williams had additional names on a hit list. First up were District Judge Glen Ashworth, whom Eric Williams planned to kill with a crossbow and homemade napalm, and the current Kaufman County District Attorney, Erleigh Wiley.
