Attorneys for a Texas man convicted of killing a district attorney's wife as part of a revenge plot that left three dead argued for a new trial inside a Kaufman County courtroom Wednesday, claiming new medical evidence shows the man's "brain is broken."
Eric Williams has been sentenced to death for the murder of Cynthia McLelland and has also been charged, but has not yet been tried, in the deaths of her husband, District Attorney Mike McLelland, and Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse.
The motion for a new trial, filed Jan. 16, suggests medical testing completed Jan. 8 shows “probable prior brain injury which is newly discovered evidence that may have produce a sentence less than death.”
"Eric Williams’ brain is broken," it reads.
In the document, Williams' attorney argues that the case would have been presented differently. The medical testing, an MRI, was not completed before Williams’ conviction and death sentence in December.
Williams’ attorney argues the presiding judge, Mike Snipes, denied funding for the test prior to the start of the trial, but reversed his position after it already started. The judge did not halt the proceedings to allow for testing, therefore, it was completed after. Snipes retired from the bench following the trial.
The motion for a new trial is before Judge Webb Baird in Kaufman County.
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Baird listened to testimony Wednesday from Dr. William Orrison, an out-of-state neuroradiologist who analyzed readings from three of Williams’ scans, including two CT scans and the MRI.
Orrison concluded the analysis showed damage in various areas of Williams’ brain that can affect judgment, decision-making and emotional control. Orrison testified that Williams’ may have been born with damage, developed it during childhood or it is the result of poorly managed diabetes.
The prosecution followed with few cross examination questions for Orrison Wednesday.
The hearing is scheduled to continue at 9 a.m. Thursday.
