Murder Witnesses Testify In Penalty Phase of Eric Williams Trial
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KAUFMAN (CBSDFW.COM) - Witnesses to a shooting that rocked Kaufman County gave dramatic testimony Monday during the punishment phase of the Eric Williams capital murder trial.
Williams faces the death penalty.
Even though a jury convicted Williams last Thursday of murdering Kaufman County DA Mike McLelland and his wife Cynthia in March, 2013, prosecutors told jurors Williams also shot and killed McLelland's top assistant DA two months earlier -- for the very same reason: Hasse and McLelland prosecuted Williams for stealing county computer equipment in 2012, and a jury convicted him.
As a result, Williams lost his job as a Justice of the Peace and his law license. Williams hasn't stood trial yet for Hasse's murder. But on Monday, several witnesses told jurors what they saw on that morning of January 31, 2013 one block away from the Kaufman County courthouse where Hasse was reporting for work.
Lenda Bush told jurors that from her car, she saw someone wearing a long dark coat and a hooded mask gun down Hasse. "There was a shoving match. The shooter put the gun to Mark's neck and shot down and I counted three shots, but I counted more shots than that."
Bush says she saw the victim fall to the ground, and the shooter walking into a waiting getaway car, a Mercury Sable. She says she followed the shooter's vehicle in her car for two or two and a half blocks and realized it didn't have front or rear license plates. Bush says she then went to help the victim and realized it was Hasse.
Martin Cerda also testified he saw Hasse being shot.
Through an interpreter, he said just before the shooting, he heard Hasse plead for his life, telling the shooter, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
Cerda said the shooter then fired at Hasse. "He points the gun to the chest and fired. He falls down. He got close to him and fired again. He emptied the gun on him, pulled out another gun, started firing again."
In all, prosecutors say Hasse had five gun shot wounds, including a fatal one to the head.
Patricia Luna, another woman who was across the street at the time and heard the gun shots, fought back tears as she told jurors about that morning. "I'm sorry, but, it's hard."
Luna sobbed as she recalled the moment she first saw Hasse. "I saw Mark dead. There was another girl who tried to do CPR, but he was dead already. There was a lot of blood, I've never seen so much blood in my life."
Luna, Cerda, and Bush said they couldn't identify the shooter because he was wearing a hooded mask. Prosecutors though told jurors Eric Williams was the shooter.
They showed the jury Williams' mask and guns he used during the murder that a DPS dive team discovered at the bottom of murky Lake Tawakoni.
The first Kaufman police officer who responded to the scene, Sgt. Jason Statsny, says he was in the area, when he heard eight gunshots.
He described them as methodical and demonstrated for jurors how they sounded by banging on the witness stand.
The officer says as soon as he arrived on scene, he relieved Bush who was giving Hasse chest compressions. "I would tell him to hang in there, it was going to be ok. And then he would breathe again. I think he took a total of six or seven breaths while I was doing CPR."
Sgt. Statsny says Hasse would later take his final breath before paramedics arrived.
On Monday, prosecutors say they may wrap up their part of the punishment phase Tuesday. Williams' estranged wife Kim, who's also charged in the murders, may testify against him. Then, Williams' defense attorneys will present their opening statement and witnesses in an effort to convince the jury to sentence Williams to life in prison and spare him from the death penalty.
Judge Mike Snipes cautioned jurors this case go continue through next week.
Follow Jack on Twitter for trial updates at: @cbs11jack
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