KAUFMAN – A judge denied convicted killer Eric Williams' request for a new trial Monday.
Afterward, visiting Judge Webb Biard ordered that Williams be returned to death row. He had been in the Kaufman County jail, pending the outcome of the hearing.
Last December, a jury found the former justice of the peace guilty in the ruthless 2013 killing spree that claimed the lives of District Attorney Mike McLelland, his wife, Cynthia and top prosecutor, Mark Hasse. The McLellands were gunned down in their homes with an assault rifle over the Easter weekend. Hasse was murdered just a block from the courthouse two months earlier.
Williams was seeking a new trial in hearings that began last week.
Biard rejected the claims made by Williams' defense team that the trial judge, Mike Snipes, was biased against him. He also rejected their claims that Williams was denied a fair trial because Snipes wouldn't delay his December trial in order for brain scans to be performed on him.
The judge's deadline for ruling on the motion for trial was Monday. The court of criminal appeals rejected a motion to extend the deadline.
In their statements Monday, defense and prosecutors did agree on one thing: There's something terribly wrong with Eric Williams.
But they had far different explanations for it.
Defense attorney John Wright said that Williams' brain was "atrophied," "shrunken," and "broken." He contended that brain scans done after the trial was over showed that the moral center of Williams' brain was damaged.
"When you think about Eric Williams being an intelligent person, an educated person, a person with a degree and law license at one time, one has to believe - you'd have to conclude - that there's something terribly wrong with his mind," Wright said.
Wright cited other incidents involving Williams, including the time that he threatened to burn a lawyer's house down and kill his wife and kids over a scheduling error.
"He just can't say 'no' like the rest of us can," Wright said.
But even their own experts could not agree.
One who examined the scans found nothing wrong with Williams' brain. The other concluded there were abnormalities that could possibly affect his decision-making.
Special Prosecutor Bill Wirskye said the facts of the crime show there's nothing abnormal about Williams' brain.
"You'd have to look far and wide [...] in Texas to find a crime that is more planned, more complex, that is filled with more strategic thinking and tactical planning," Wirskye said. "This is sophisticated planning with lots of thinking."
Wirskye also pointed out that the defense had plenty of time to get brain scans done before the trial, that their own medical expert had told them months before the trial that they should have them done.
It wasn't until Nov. 9, 2014 - just a few weeks before trial - that defense attorneys asked Snipes to approve funding for brain scans, he said.
"Judge Snipes never denied that motion," Wirskye said. "He asked for additional support to support the basis of the motion."
The defense did not provide written documentation showing why they needed the brain scans until just days before trial. The judge agreed to pay for the scans, but refused to delay the trial.
Wirskye had a far simpler explanation of Wiliams' actions.
"The only thing wrong with Eric Williams is he's a psychopath," Wirskye said. "Something is wrong, but it's wrong with his mind and heart. His heart is dark and evil."
