FORT WORTH A tearful drama in a Tarrant County courtroom Monday ended with a bizarre twist in an already strange case.
Keller mom Michele Williams was supposed to be sentenced after accepting a plea deal for the death of her husband.
She originally told investigators an intruder broke into their upscale home; shot Gregory Williams in the head; and hit her with a wrench.
When investigators said the 2011 crime appeared to have been staged, Williams changed her story. She said her husband committed suicide, but that she staged a cover-up to shield their daughter from the truth.
But after the medical examiner ruled Gregory Williams' death a homicide, Michele Williams, 44, accepted a plea bargain. She would serve a maximum 18 years in prison for tampering with evidence and deadly conduct.
But before she could be sentenced, Mrs. Williams gave a jailhouse interview in which she said she wasn't guilty of deadly conduct after all, but merely wanted to get a short sentence.
When confronted with her guilty/not guilty conflicting statements, Williams cried to Judge Scott Wisch that she needed a jury trial.
She will now get one for a charge of murder.
Judge Wisch promptly declared himself a witness to perjury and said he could no longer try the case. Williams' defense attorneys also asked to be removed.
'If this story is true, this lady needs a trial,' Judge Wisch said. 'If this lady is a drama queen no disrespect intended trying to get attention, sympathy... so be it. Life goes on.'
E-mail jdouglas@wfaa.com
