North Texas

Wife in Texas DA Murder Case Sentenced to 40 Years

A North Texas woman is sentenced to 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to helping her husband gun down a district attorney, his wife and a top assistant in a revenge plot.

Kim Williams appeared in court to enter her plea just before 9 a.m. Tuesday, weeks after her husband, Eric Williams, was sentenced to death for one of the three killings last year.

She testified during Eric Williams' sentencing hearing that she was a "willing participant" in the killings, driving the getaway car after the January 2013 shooting of prosecutor Mark Hasse and helping hide weapons after the March 2013 shootings of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia.

Kim Williams was indicted on a charge of three counts of capital murder. She testified this month that she hadn't received a deal for a lighter sentence.

After the verdict, relatives of the deceased addressed Kim Williams.

"This didn’t affect just one person, one family," Mike McLelland's son J.R. said. "Three people were murdered. It affected thousands of people. I think you realize it now, but it’s too late.

Mike McLelland's daughter Krista Ball said she would never understand why Williams did what she did, but she appreciated her coming forward with everything.

"This closes out one part of our lives, but we’ll never get those human beings back that you took," Ball said. "So you will serve your time and we will go on with our lives. You got what you deserve."

Williams' husband, Eric Williams, was sentenced to death earlier this month for killing Cynthia McLelland, wife of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland. Eric Williams has been charged, but not tried, in the deaths of Mike McLelland and prosecutor Mark Hasse.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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