Shraman Mitra
When Eric Williams was given the opportunity to become a justice of the peace in Kaufman County, Texas, he was exasperated to discover the backdated technology his office was provided with. However, neither assistant district Mark Hasse nor district attorney Michael McLelland knew what the consequences might be once they denied Eric’s request to update the computers.
‘Dateline: Bad Intentions’ chronicles how Eric was caught stealing computers red-handed and how his subsequent conviction made him angry enough to take revenge. Well, let’s delve into the details surrounding the incident and find out where Eric is at present, shall we?
Who Is Eric Williams?
A native of Azle, Texas, Eric Williams is an alum of the Texas Christian University and was also a part of the Reserves Officers’ Training Corps. Shortly after, he met Kim Williams; the two fell in love and exchanged vows on May 13, 1998, before settling in Kaufman County, Texas. People who knew the couple back then described them as any regular family looking to live the American dream. Moreover, while it was pretty apparent that Eric and his wife were very much in love, they worked hard to secure their future and were overjoyed when Eric landed a job as a justice of the peace in Kaufman County.
Even though Eric was excited to start a new chapter in his life, he was disappointed after learning about the outdated computers his office had to use. Since Eric has always been pretty adept with technology, he immediately raised a complaint against the old machines and insisted that he could work more efficiently and remotely if the county gave him the funds to set up a videoconferencing network. As updating their computers was not in Kaufman County’s budget at that time, the district attorney Michael McLelland turned Eric’s request down.
Yet, Eric was not someone to accept defeat so easily, and he soon began looking for loopholes in the system that would allow him to update his computers. Around that time, he also learned that the county had updated machines in a different department, further irritating Eric. Hence, he decided to take matters into his own hands and walked out of the County building with three computer monitors. However, the justice of the peace had no idea that his act was caught on CCTV cameras, and when the case reached the district attorney’s office, Michael asked Eric to plead guilty to a misdemeanor.
Nevertheless, Eric refused to acknowledge his mistake and insisted on his innocence, which led to dire circumstances. Exasperated, Michael asked his best prosecutor, Mark Hasse, to charge Eric with a felony, and once convicted of the same, he lost his job as a justice of the peace and was also shunned by the community. However, instead of letting the conviction change him for the better, Eric chose a path of revenge and was dead set on making everyone, from the prosecutor to the judge, pay.
In fact, Eric’s wife, Kim Williams, later mentioned that her husband planned several murders, and they would often argue over whom to kill first. Eventually, Eric put his plan in motion on January 31, 2013, when he wore a disguise and assassinated Mark Hasse in public view. His wife, Kim, was the designated getaway driver, and the onlookers who witnessed the murder were unable to help the police with an accurate description of the perpetrator. Moreover, on March 30, 2013, about two months after Mark’s death, Eric armed himself with an assault rifle before murdering Michael McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, inside their home.
Eric Williams Remains on Death Row
Once law enforcement officers connected the two crimes, they realized that Michael and Mark had worked together on Eric Williams’ case. At the same time, Kim Williams broke under interrogation and admitted to her role in the homicides. She further implicated her husband in the crime and claimed he had planned both murders on his own. On top of that, the police also found one of Eric’s storage units, where he stored guns, ammunition, and the car he used to flee from Mark’s murder scene.
With enough evidence to warrant an arrest, Eric was taken into custody and charged with capital murder. Even after Eric’s arrest, he kept insisting on his innocence and refused to acknowledge his involvement in the triple homicide. In fact, he even pled not guilty and was confident of his acquittal. However, the jury had enough evidence for a conviction and eventually found Eric guilty of capital murder.
Subsequently, the judge took the gruesome nature of the murders into consideration and sentenced Eric to death in 2014. Although Eric tried his best to get his sentencing overturned post-conviction, most of his appeals have been rejected. Hence, he currently remains on death row at the TDCJ Polunsky Unit in West Livingston, Texas.
Read More: Michael and Cynthia McLelland: Who Killed Them? Why Were They Murdered?
