Patterico's Pontifications

4/15/2013

Slain District Attorney in North Texas Told Friend: “I Know Who Killed My Assistant”

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:09 am



And the person he named, Eric Williams, has now been arrested for the murder of that Assistant — as well as the District Attorney himself, and his wife:

County Judge Bruce Wood said Sunday that [Kaufman County District Attorney Mike] McLelland repeatedly told him that McLelland believed Williams was behind [Assistant District Attorney Mark] Hasse’s slaying. The first time was in the emergency room in the hours after Hasse was shot down by a mysterious gunman dressed in black.

“He was distraught,” Wood said. “He very pointedly said to me, ‘I know who did this.’ I said, ‘Well, who, Mike?’ He said, ‘Well, Eric Williams.’”

McLelland, who worked for years as a diagnostic psychologist, described Williams as “a narcissistic psychopath” during that conversation and others. Wood said McLelland never elaborated on why he thought Williams was involved.

On March 27, Wood said he met with McLelland in the county judge’s office. “I said, ‘Are you still convinced that it’s Eric Williams?’” Wood recalled. “He said, ‘Absolutely.’”

Several days later, the McLellands’ bodies were found in their home near Forney.

If McLelland told this to his friends, that means he told law enforcement. And clearly McLelland was concerned that Williams would come after him, as he pointedly armed himself in the days and weeks before his murder.

And yet apparently law enforcement did not place Williams under surveillance, at least long enough to prevent the murder of Williams or his wife.


D.A. Mike McLelland told a friend he “knew” Eric Williams, a “narcissistic psychopath,” had killed his Assistant Mark Hasse. Williams has now been arrested in the murder of Hasse, McLelland, and McLelland’s wife.

Frankly, if Hasse, the initial victim, had been a police officer instead of an Assistant District Attorney — and McLelland had been his chief, telling people he believed Williams was guilty — it’s hard for me to believe that Williams would not have been under surveillance every second of his life until there was an arrest in the Hasse murder case.

The picture of McLelland going around telling everyone he knew and trusted that he felt he was in danger from this narcissistic psychopath, whom he believed was possibly plotting against his own life, is highly disturbing — especially in light of law enforcement’s failure to protect him and his wife.

More of the evidence in the case has been revealed, by the way:

The day after the bodies of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife were found, an anonymous email went to county officials threatening another attack if the writer’s demands were not met.

Law enforcement authorities have since traced the threat to the personal computer of Eric Williams, a former justice of the peace who is now the prime suspect in the slayings. He is expected to be charged with capital murder as early as Tuesday, law enforcement authorities said Sunday.

Authorities on Saturday found numerous weapons inside a Seagoville storage unit linked to Williams as well as a car similar to the one seen leaving the McLellands’ neighborhood on the morning of the Easter weekend slayings.

This all comes via Robert Stacy McCain, who is upset that the media focused on the white supremacist angle of law enforcement suspicion, creating a distraction that McCain argues inhibited the investigation. I’m not sure I agree with that. We don’t know that the reported media angle had anything to do with the focus of the investigation. From the linked story, it sounds like Williams was an early and consistent suspect. They’re not necessarily going to disclose that to the media.

From the publicly known facts, though, the suspicion seemed well grounded: known white supremacist recently killed prison official in Colorado; Aryan Brotherhood announced intent to kill law enforcement; Hasse had worked on an Aryan Brotherhood case. And even if they aren’t behind this murder, the group is still a menace that poses significant danger.

That said, Stacy is clearly right about this: any media outlets or personalities that reported the Aryan Brotherhood angle owe it to their readers and viewers to report these new facts every bit as prominently. I’m looking at you, Martin Nashir and Chris Matthews.

I’m looking at you . . . but as I do so, I’m not holding my breath.


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