A Texas man sentenced to death for three murders is now seeking a new trial, calling his 2014 conviction unfair and biased.
According to The Dallas Morning News, former justice of the peace and attorney Eric Williams was sentenced to death for orchestrating a revenge plot resulting in three 2013 fatalities.
Now, attorneys representing Williams have filed a 169-page document stating that they had insufficient time to review evidence and prepare for the trial, which contributed to his conviction. Williams also alleged a biased judge presided over his case and argued that the trial location in Rockwall County did not ensure a fair trial.
Williams was convicted of capital murder on December 4, 2014, for the deaths of Cynthia McLelland, 65, and her husband, Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland, 63. He’s also accused of killing of prosecutor Mark Hasse, 57.
In 2012, police arrested Williams for stealing three computer monitors from the Kaufman County courthouse, as CrimeOnline previously reported.
When a jury found him guilty of burglary, Williams was stripped of his license and removed from office, according to The New York Times. Williams then asserted that Hasse and McLelland had a political grudge against him and that he’d been framed.
In January 2013, clad in a mask and tactical gear, Williams shot and killed Hasse outside a courthouse building during daylight hours. Prosecutors described the assailant as a “masked assassin,” positively identifying Williams.
Although Hasse pleaded for his life and apologized, Williams shot him several times. Two months later, Williams forcibly entered the McLellands’ rural home east of Dallas, where he shot the couple over a dozen times.
Previously, Judge Mike Snipes compared Eric Williams to Charles Manson and Jeffrey Dahmer as he handed down the death sentence.
“At the end of the day, you murdered a little old lady and you would have murdered two other innocent people if you had the opportunity,” Snipes said. “That put you right there with Charles Manson and Jeffrey Dahmer.”
A hearing is scheduled for Tuesday in the Northern District of Texas before a federal judge, according to court documents.
Check back for updates.
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[Feature Photo: An exhibit photo of Eric Williams and his high school and current friend Tamara Maas that was shown during the punishment phase of his capital murder trial is displayed at the Rockwall County Courthouse in Rockwall, Texas on Friday, Dec. 12, 2014. Williams is accused in the Kaufman DA murder of Mike McLelland and his wife Cynthia McLelland back in 2013. Attorneys for the former public official convicted of capital murder in a revenge plot against North Texas prosecutors are portraying him in a sympathetic light in an effort to spare him the death penalty. (AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News, Vernon Bryant, Pool)]
