Dateline: Secrets Uncovered: Who is Eric Williams?

Eric Williams, a former justice of the peace from Kaufman County, was convicted of capital murder in the killings of DA Michael McLelland, his wife Cynthia and prosecutor Mark Hasse. All three victims were shot to death within months in early 2013 as part of a revenge plot Williams orchestrated with his wife, Kim William.

An upcoming episode of Dateline: Secrets Uncovered will retrace the life of convicted murderer Eric Williams, who was behind the Kaufman County murders. The episode will revisit the events that led to the three killings, the investigation that followed, and the high-profile trials of Williams and his wife.

The episode, titled Vendetta, airs on Oxygen on Thursday, November 17, 2022.

The couple were tried separately and were ultimately found guilty in connection to McLellands' double homicide and Hasse's broad daylight shooting.

Eric Williams was given the death penalty and remains on death row to date, while Kim was given a 40-year term and is likely still serving the prison sentence. The latter had pleaded guilty and admitted her involvement in the murder as a getaway driver.

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Eric Williams, a former Justice of the Peace, was prosecuted in 2012 on a theft charge

Eric Williams was a Boy Scout and a member of the band while growing up in Azle, Texas. After completing his studies at Texas Christian University, he joined the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC). He first met Kim in late 1990s, and they got married on May 13, 1998.

However, in May 2011, just six months after Williams was chosen as Justice of the Peace, he was frequently caught on camera removing monitors and other items from a county building. He said that his office required them, but was eventually detained on a theft charge two weeks later. Mark Hasse and Michael McLelland were the prosecutors in the case and charged Williams for the theft.

Williams was given the choice to either plead guilty to a misdemeanor or be sentenced to jail. He was put on trial after refusing to take a plea deal and practically lost everything he had strived so hard to achieve due to his criminal conviction.

Williams lost both his legal license and his position as the Justice of the Peace, a judge who mostly handles administrative matters.

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Disgraced judge, Eric Williams, plotted an extensive revenge plan to murder Marh Hasse, Michael and Cynthia McLelland

Not long after, in 2013, Eric Williams and his wife Kim would thrust themselves into the national spotlight after committing the heinous Kaufman County murders. These murders are often described as "one of the three most notorious murders of the century."

Williams reportedly shot Hasse in on January 31, 2013, near the courthouse in broad daylight. Two months later, he shot McLelland and his wife inside their home.

Eric was ultimately arrested and charged with the brutal 2013 murders after investigators found incriminating evidence against him. His wife was also arrested and charged, and she eventually confessed to the crimes and her role in them.

Kim entered a guilty plea claiming that her husband was planning the murders ever since his computer monitors conviction. She reportedly acted as a getaway driver.

Williams was given the death penalty after a jury found him guilty of capital murder. While his defense pleaded for his life, prosecutors stated that he was a "serial psychopathic killer" who planned to kill more people. This was according to his wife's testimony as she revealed that they were supposed to kill two others involved in the 2012 theft case.

Eric Williams remains on death row till date.

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Learn more about Eric Williams' life on Dateline: Secrets Uncovered's episode, which is scheduled to air on Thursday, November 17, 2022, on Oxygen.