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Eric Williams Found Guilty Of Killing Kaufman County DA's Wife

Sonya Hebert-Schwartz
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File photo/The Dallas Morning News
Shirley Woodward (center), mother of Cynthia McLelland, mourns at last year's memorial service for her daughter and son-in-law, Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland.

A North Texas jury has convicted a former public official of capital murder in a revenge plot against a local district attorney, his wife and a top assistant.

Jurors found Eric Williams guilty Thursday of the murder of Cynthia McLelland, the wife of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland. Williams has been charged with the deaths of both McLellands and prosecutor Mark Hasse.

Williams could face the death penalty at sentencing.

The McLellands' bodies were found riddled with gunshot wounds in their home in March 2013. Two months earlier, a masked gunman shot Hasse outside the local courthouse.

Authorities focused on Williams, a former justice of the peace who'd been disbarred after McLelland and Hasse prosecuted him for stealing county-owned computer monitors.