The jury deliberated the sentence of convicted killer Eric Williams for several hours on Tuesday, soon after his wife delivered shocking and emotional testimony about how her husband began plotting the homicides of two county officials soon after they convicted him of theft.
Shortly before 6 p.m. Tuesday, deliberations ended for the day without a decision. The jury has been sequestered until Wednesday.
Kim Williams took the stand as a state witness Tuesday morning and said her husband shot and killed Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse, District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife Cynthia. Kim Williams added that she, too, was guilty and that she was addicted to pain killers and drugged when she drove the getaway car in the slayings.
Before the trial began Tuesday, the lawyer for the defendant's wife said she wanted to testify. What came next was a string of statements that shed light into the days leading up to the murders of the Hasse and the McLellands and may make it more difficult for the defendants attorneys to keep their client off death row.
At one point during her testimony, Kim Williams described the day she and her husband left to kill Hasse saying, "It was a cold day, there was excitement in the air" and, though she could not watch Williams kill Hasse, they were both happy afterward.
"His anger was my anger," Kim Williams said.
Kim Williams went on to testify that they planned to kill Mike McLelland at his home over a holiday when he wouldn't have protection and said the slaying of Cynthia McLelland was "collateral damage."
She said her husband told her he had to shoot Cynthia an extra time because she was still moaning.
After the McLelland slayings, Kim Williams said the couple went and had barbecue before throwing the guns used in the murders in a lake.
In addition to the details about the Hasse and McLelland murders, Kim Williams detailed how her husband planned to kill Judge Glen Ashworth as well.
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The victims' family members present in court were shocked listening to the coldblooded descriptions of the killings, for which each one Kim Williams claims to have been present.
Kim Williams said she offered her testimony without a plea deal from prosecutors, though she expects some consideration in her trial. She said she wanted to talk because the families of the victims had suffered a terrible, terrible loss.
Closing arguments and deliberations are expected to take place Tuesday afternoon.
NBC 5's Ken Kalthoff is tweeting live from the hearing. Stay up-to-date by following him on Twitter or reading below.
