Ex-Judge Arrested After Killing of Texas DA, Wife

Eric Williams was arrested for one count of making a terroristic threat and two counts of insufficient bond. He is being held on three million dollars bond.

After a second search of his Kaufman home on Friday, former Kaufman County Justice of the Peace Eric Williams was arrested overnight Friday and booked into the Kaufman County Jail.

According to booking information, Williams was arrested for one count of making a terroristic threat and two counts of insufficient bond. 
 
He is being held on three million dollars bond. 
 
Local, state and federal agents searched Williams' home in the 1600 block of Overlook Drive late Friday afternoon.
 
The FBI, Texas Rangers and Kaufman County investigators are gathering evidence related to the McLelland and Hasse murders according to Kaufman County public information officer Lt. Justin Lewis.
 
A listed phone number for Williams went unanswered Friday afternoon. But his attorney, David Sergi, released a statement Friday saying his client "has cooperated with law enforcement and vigorously denies any and all allegations."
 
Williams has never been named as a suspect in the murders of Mark McLelland, his wife Cynthia and ADA Mark Hasse. 
 
In an interview April 3, Williams told NBC 5 he had nothing to do with the McLellands' murder and doesn't even own a gun.
 
"If I was in their shoes, I would want to talk to me," Eric Williams said in an interview at his house. "In the investigators' minds, they want to check with me to do their process of elimination."
 
Williams, a former Kaufman County justice of the peace, was charged with theft and later convicted in a high-profile trial. He was kicked out of office, and his law license was suspended. He was 
 
sentenced to two years' probation and is appealing his conviction.
 
But he said he is not bitter and wouldn't want to harm anyone.
 
"I've cooperated with law enforcement," Williams said. "I certainly wish them the best in bringing justice to this incredibly egregious act."
 
Williams' name has swirled around the courthouse because his trial was sensational news in this small community, and it included testimony of death threats.
 
William said he was contacted Saturday night by investigators -- only about three hours after Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, were found dead inside their Forney home.
 
He said he met the agents at a nearby restaurant, where he allowed them to swab his hands for gunpowder residue. He also gave them his and his wife's cellphones, which they returned the next day.
 
"I know I didn't do anything," he said. "I know where I was."
 
Williams said he was at home with his wife or up the street at his in-laws late Friday and Saturday.
 
He expressed shock at the crime and sympathy for the victims' families.
 
"I want to say my deepest condolences go out to the McLelland family and all the people at the courthouse," he said.
 
Asked if he is angry at prosecutors, he said, "No, I'm not. Obviously that was also a part of them doing their jobs."
 
Copyright Associated Press / NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth
 
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