Jury Considers Death Penalty In Murder Of Texas Prosecutor’s Wife

Eric Williams, right, makes his way into the courtroom on the second day of his capital murder trial at the Rockwall County Courthouse in Rockwall, Texas, on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2014. Williams faces a possible death sen... Eric Williams, right, makes his way into the courtroom on the second day of his capital murder trial at the Rockwall County Courthouse in Rockwall, Texas, on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2014. Williams faces a possible death sentence for the 2013 slayings of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and the prosecutor's wife, Cynthia, at their home in Forney, just east of Dallas. (AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News, Vernon Bryant, Pool) MORE LESS

ROCKWALL, Texas (AP) — Jurors are considering life in prison or the death penalty for a former justice of the peace convicted of killing a prosecutor’s wife in North Texas.

The trial of Eric Williams enters the punishment phase Monday in Rockwall.

Williams was convicted Thursday of capital murder in a revenge plot against a Kaufman County district attorney, his wife and a top assistant.

He lost his judicial job and law license after being prosecuted and convicted in 2012 of stealing county computer monitors.

Williams was found guilty in the March 2013 fatal shooting of Cynthia McLelland. Her husband, Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland, was also found slain at their home. Williams is also charged with killing assistant prosecutor Mark Hasse (HAS’-ee) in January 2013.

Williams did not testify at trial.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  1. It appears that he’s not innocent, or a person of color, or has intellectual disabilities, so this being Texas, he might have a chance at leniency.

  2. Since he isn’t black he will probably get life. Of course, the SOB’s crime is the very definition of capital murder. If you believe in the death penalty at all this is the case.

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