Former Judge Arrested In Kaufman, Texas DA Murder Cases

Former Kaufman County Justice of the Peace Eric Williams
Former Kaufman County Justice of the Peace Eric Williams

Gotta love Texas. Even someone who has been a justice of the peace is violent — allegedly.

On April 13th, Eric Williams was arrested in Kaufman, Texas, for making terroristic threats as law enforcement officials searched his home while investigating the murders of Kaufman County’s District Attorney, Mike McClelland; McClelland’s wife Cynthia McClelland. and Kaufman County Assistant DA Mark Hasse.

Kaufman County Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse
Kaufman County Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse

In 2012, Mike McClelland and Hasse prosecuted Williams while he was a justice of the peace for burglary of a building and theft by a public servant, according to The Kaufman Herald. Williams lost his justice job because of the conviction.

Slain Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and wife Cynthia
Slain Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and wife Cynthia

I have no idea whether Williams killed the Texas prosecutors. In fact, the prosecutors? work might have made them targets of numerous people. According to the Addicting Info website, Hasse had prosecuted people who belonged to white supremacist groups, the Texas Aryan Brotherhood and the Mexican Mafia as well as drug dealers.
Convicted murderers should be imprisoned so they can’t ever harm anyone again. I have a question, though, — why aren’t the people of Texas demanding dramatic changes in the state’s justice system?

For decades, conservatives touted Texas as the model for fighting crime. The state’s capital punishment laws helped make Governor George W. Bush a conservative hero — and our nation’s 43rd president. From 1976 to 2011, Texas executed 477 people, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Virginia and Oklahoma were second and third among the 50 states with 109 and 96 executions respectively. Those three states executed more people than the other 47 states combined.

How is your ?tough? anti-crime policy working Texas? To put it bluntly, your policy sucks.

Look at the record. Your gun murder rate is the 15th highest out of the 50 states, according to a Wikipedia chart that was based on FBI statistics. The Death Penalty Information Center reports that the murder rate in states with a death penalty has been about 40 percent higher than non-death penalty states since 1996.

Why don’t you listen to the police chief of New York City, where murders have dropped from 2,245 in 1990 to 414 in 2012. Ray Kelly attributed the crime drop to police getting guns off the streets. You should also listen to former Australian Prime Minister John Howard. He wrote that annual gun-related suicides have dropped 74 percent since strict gun safety laws were passed in 1996.

Or you could keep executing people while proclaiming how tough you are. Hopefully, a Texas DA will persuade you to be smart instead of tough.

 

Martin Z. has been a professional writer since 1983. He has written several thousand articles in news, business, sports, health, education, and more for The Chicago Tribune, USA Today, Sports Illustrated, Wealth Building, The Huffington Post, Salon, and more. In addition to writing, he has directed and edited numerous community newspapers and a state Jewish newspaper. Martin has a BS in Government and Law from Lafayette College, and a Master of Education from St.?Xavier?University. He is active in the Northern New Jersey Society of Professional Journalists.?

Editor: SB