ROCKWALL — Both sides rested their cases Wednesday — the defense without calling a single witness — in the capital murder trial of former Kaufman County Justice of the Peace Eric Williams.
Closing arguments were to begin Thursday morning, and jurors could begin deliberating before noon. Prosecutors are seeking a death sentence if Williams is convicted.
He is accused of killing former Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, as well as Mike McLelland’s top assistant, Mark Hasse. Prosecutors allege that the slayings were part of a revenge plot because Williams blamed Mike McLelland and Hasse for the loss of his law license and justice of the peace job after he was convicted of stealing county computers. McLelland and Hasse prosecuted that case.
Williams is being tried now only in the death of Cynthia McLelland.
On Wednesday, special prosecutors called several forensic experts in an attempt to prove that Williams, 47, meticulously planned the slayings of Mike McLelland, 63, and Cynthia McLelland, 65, who were gunned down in their home near Forney on Easter weekend 2013.
Hasse had been shot near the Kaufman courthouse two months earlier, on Jan. 30, shortly after he arrived for work.
Before resting their case, prosecutors played a video of KXAS-TV (NBC5) reporter Scott Gordon interviewing Williams about the case shortly before his arrest. In the interview, Williams said he had cooperated with authorities but had nothing to do with the crime.
“First, I want to say that my deepest condolences go out to the McLelland family,” Williams said in the interview.
Special prosecutors Bill Wirskye and Toby Shook used the final day of testimony Wednesday to bolster evidence previously presented to the jury. Much of that dealt with some of the smaller details behind Williams’ alleged plans to cover his tracks after the slayings.
On Tuesday, prosecutors had showed jurors an anonymous Crime Stoppers tip sent after the McLellands were killed that detailed facts of that crime that hadn’t been publicized. That tip also seemed to threaten more bloodshed, testimony showed.
On Wednesday, computer experts testified that in the months before the slayings, Williams had conducted numerous Internet searches on Mike McLelland and had searched for ways to send anonymous messages without being detected.
In other notable testimony:
Rhona Wedderien, a computer analyst with the Tarrant County district attorney’s office, said she went through 325 pages of computer searches on Mike McLelland that Williams is believed to have made using a Kaufman County computer.
State Trooper Steven Tippett testified that Texas Department of Public Safety dive teams spent 16 days searching Lake Tawakoni between August 2013 and March for evidence Williams was believed to have dumped after the McLelland slayings. Divers found a cellphone linked to Williams, Tippett said.
Mark Porter, a forensic video analyst with the Tarrant County district attorney’s office, testified that he went through hours of surveillance footage captured near a Seagoville storage unit linked to Williams. What appears to be a white Ford Crown Victoria was seen leaving the unit and then returning after the slayings. Authorities contend that Williams used the Crown Victoria as a getaway car. Several fingerprint experts testified that prints pulled from the car matched Williams.
State District Judge Mike Snipes has decided that each side will have up to 45 minutes to argue its case before the jury. After that, the deliberations will begin.
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