But Hasse and McLelland both spoke harshly of his character and dismissed his explanation.
Mark Hasse, chief felony prosecutor in the county, was gunned down January 31 outside the courthouse.
Hasse was shot to death in broad daylight outside the county courthouse on January 30.
McLelland called Hasse "a stellar prosecutor" who knew that threats were part of the job.
Authorities have investigated whether Hasse's death could be linked to a white supremacist gang.
Mark Hasse was gunned down as he walked across a parking lot to the courthouse.
Hasse alluded to several threatening statements Williams had allegedly made, including one to Janice Gray, an ex-girlfriend.
Hasse was gunned down January 31 while walking from his car to the courthouse in broad daylight.
She said that Hasse gave no specifics on why he felt threatened -- only that he did.
Eric Williams' wife, Kim, has implicated him in the deaths of Mike and Cynthia McLelland and Mark Hasse.
Hasse "was a very well-liked person" who had worked for the district attorney's office in Dallas County, Laney said.
The McClellands were killed about two months after one of McLelland's prosecutors, Mark Hasse, was slain outside the local courthouse.
Williams has said he submitted to gunshot residue tests and turned over his cellphone after both McLelland and Hasse were found dead.
In the AP interview, McLelland said he, too, began carrying a gun after Hasse's death and was answering his door more carefully.
For about a month after Hasse's slaying, sheriff's deputies were parked in the district attorney's driveway, said Sam Rosander, a McLelland neighbor.
McLelland had said Hasse was one of 12 attorneys on his staff, all of whom handle hundreds of cases at a time.
Six others are charged as accomplices in the killing: Roberto Souper, Raul Jofre, Edwin Dimter, Nelson Hasse, Luis Bethke and Jorge Smith.
CNN: Charges brought in Chilean singer's death, 39 years later
McLelland and Hasse both participated in last year's prosecution of Williams on charges that he stole three computer monitors from an office building.
The Kaufman County district attorney and his wife were found dead at their home last month weeks after the killing of assistant prosecutor Hasse.
McLelland and Hasse prosecuted Eric Williams on a charges of felony burglary and theft by a public servant last year, according to the warrant.
In an interview with The Associated Press after Hasse's death, McLelland said his deputy hadn't been involved in the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas investigation.
McLelland himself, in an Associated Press interview shortly after the Colorado slaying, raised the possibility that Hasse was gunned down by a white supremacist gang.
Wood said Monday that no physical evidence links McLelland's death and Hasse's, though previously he had said he believed there is a "strong connection" between the killings.
Mark Hasse, an assistant district attorney in Kaufman County, was shot to death while getting out of his car Thursday morning, sheriff's spokeswoman Pat Laney told CNN.
Burns said he and McLelland kept in touch "here and there" until January, when McLelland's assistant district attorney, Mark Hasse, was shot to death in a still-unsolved case.
Sheriff David Byrnes would not give details Sunday of how the killings unfolded and said there was nothing to indicate for certain whether the DA's slaying was connected to Hasse's.
Nor are they sure whether the deaths are related to the killing of Kaufman County Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse, who was killed on his way to work in January.
Hasse died the same day as the justice department said the Kaufman County district attorney's office was pursuing a racketeering case against the white supremacist group, the Aryan Brotherhood in Texas.
BBC: Texas district attorney third law official killed in weeks
应用推荐