KAUFMAN -- It took Kim Williams and her husband, Eric, months to plan the murders of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland, his wife, and his top prosecutor.
On Tuesday, in less than 10 minutes, she pleaded guilty to the murder of Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse, 57. Dallas County District Judge Michael Snipes sentenced her to 40 years in prison.
In many ways, her sentencing was the end of a chapter in a shocking episode that began Jan. 31, 2013 when Hasse was gunned down as he walked to the Kaufman County Courthouse. District Attorney Mike McLelland, 63, and his wife, Cynthia, were murdered in their Forney home during Easter weekend in what prosecutors have described as a "torrent of lead."
Eric Williams was the triggerman. Kim was the willing participant, driving the getaway car in the Hasse murder and riding along to the McLellands'.
"We all felt that this was an appropriate end to these murders," said lead special prosecutor Bill Wirskye. "We're in Kaufman just a 100 feet away from where Mark Hasse was murdered, so we thought it was a fitting end to have her plead guilty to the Mark Hasse case."
Paul Johnson, Kim Williams' attorney, said her plea bargain reflects the "valuable information" she gave investigators and prosecutors, including leading authorities to the gun and mask used in the Hasse killing. He said the Kim Williams of today is repentant and not the pill-popping addict who participated in the killing conspiracy.
"She wasn't in any type of a condition to stop him," he said. "She's been able to sit back and reflect on all the harm it caused to a lot of the different families, including her own. She knows he has to pay for what she did take part in."
Her husband, who was found guilty in the McLelland killings, is now on Death Row. He arrived Dec. 18, one day after a jury sentenced him to death in the murders.
In court, the son of Cynthia McLelland and two of Mike McLelland's children addressed Kim Williams, who was shackled and wearing a black and white jail jumpsuit.
They thanked her for her testimony during her husband's trail during which she gave a step-by-step account of how he developed his murderous plot, how he carried out the killings, how they celebrated, and how he planned to kill more people.
"I'm glad that you're going to spend time in jail," said Nathan Foreman, Cynthia McLelland's son, who is a police officer. "These murders have torn apart my family and Mark Hasse's family. I'm glad that this deal has happened and that we don't have to go through another trial."
JR McLelland, Mike McLelland's son, told Kim Williams he would never understand why she didn't do something to stop the murders.
"You had too many opportunities to stop it and you didn't take that," he said. "I feel sorry for you and also for your family."
The McLelland children grew up in the tiny town of Wortham, south of Corsicana. JR McLelland, his sister and aunt still live there. Their older brother, Josh, lives in Palestine.
"This is what you see in a movie," said Krista Ball, McLelland's oldest daughter. "We don't have this kind of stuff in Wortham, Texas."
In an interview with News 8, Mike McLelland's three adult children and sister say the sentencing brings a sense of relief, though it will never take away the pain, grief and the sorrow of losing him.
They say It was awful having to relive what happened during the trial for Eric Williams.
"That's the hardest thing I think for everybody," said his sister, Marsha Calame.
McLelland's sister sobbed, recalling eating Easter supper as her son delivered the horrific news.
"He says, 'Are you sitting down?'" she said. "I said 'no, why?' He said, 'Mike and Cynthia are dead.' I said, 'What happened? A car accident?' He said, 'No. They were shot in their home.'''
That started a chain reaction of phone calls as family members notified each other.
Mike McLelland's mother learned about it from the news on TV. The McLellands say this has been particularly hard on her. She's suffered a stroke since their deaths.
"You don't bury your children," Ball said.
They're still appalled by Kim Williams' testimony that they celebrated and ate steaks after the killings of Mike and Cynthia McLelland.
"We all three just looked at each other and we were like 'did she just really say that?'" Ball said. "Who does that? Who celebrates?"
Ball said the "smirk" that Eric Williams had on his face every day that he came into court made her sick.
"I would cry about that, about the smirk on his face," Ball said.
She added, "I think the smirk is gone."
They also had some choice words to describe Eric Williams: Spineless. Scum of the Earth. Weasel.
"If you're mad at somebody and somebody really pisses you off, as mad as he was at the world, then you walk up to them and say something to them," JR McLelland said. "You don't go around shooting people. Be a man about it."
Investigators say Eric Williams decided to kill Hasse and McLelland after they successfully prosecuted him on the theft of county computer monitors. The conviction cost him his job as justice of the peace as well as his law license.
In court, Eric Williams refused to look at family members as they addressed him during victim impact statements. His wife looked them squarely in the eye.
"That's her little bit of conscious," JR McLelland said.
"She shook her head and acknowledged that she understood," Calame said.
After Kim Williams' sentencing, the McLellands were surprised when her brother approached them.
"He walked up and stuck his hand out and apologized and said 'I'm sorry for what my sister did to your family,'" JR McLelland said. "It was polite and I appreciated it."
Ball said he had tears in his eyes.
"I don't know that I would have been able to walk up to somebody if my family member had done something like that," she said.
They thanked the victims' advocates within the Texas Department of Public Safety, and they say they're grateful to the police and prosecutors who saw that justice was done.
"We can't say thank you enough to them," Ball said. "They did an awesome job on everything."
And just as they ate steak after Eric Williams was sentenced to death, they said they will do the same now that his wife has been sentenced. They also say that 20 years from now, when she comes up for parole, they will be there to ensure she never gets out.
