Michele Williams convicted of killing husband

Sept. 29--FORT WORTH -- After seven hours of deliberation on Monday, a Tarrant County jury found Michele Williams guilty of murder in the death of her husband in 2001.

The jury of seven men and five women began deliberating just before 11 a.m. and returned about 6 p.m.

They also convicted Williams on one count of tampering with evidence involving a gun but acquitted her of a count of tampering with the body.

Williams faces a maximum of life in prison on the murder charge and 20 years in the tampering case. The punishment phase of the trial begins Tuesday.

Williams, 45, did not take the stand at her trial, which began last week.

Early on, jurors asked for and received Michelle Williams' written statement, a police department sketch of the couple's Keller home, floor plans, photos of all the family rooms, the autopsy and close-up photos of Greg Williams' right hand. Later in the evening, the jury asked for the gun used in the shooting and a yardstick.

The jury also had asked for gunpowder burn reports and another report from the Tarrant County medical examiner's office by someone who no longer works there. State District Judge George Gallagher said he could not provide the jury with those reports.

In his closing argument, a prosecutor called Williams a "cold-blooded" killer who has been telling lies for years.

Jury they should not believe defense attorneys' arguments that 40-year-old Greg Williams shot himself in October 2011, prosecutor Jack Strickland said.

"She has tried to pull the wool on this community, police and the media," Strickland said. "Don't let her get away with it."

Defense attorneys Monday continued to say Greg Williams killed himself in the couple's Keller home on Oct. 13, 2011 as Michele Williams and their 4-year-old daughter slept on a couch.

"They want you to believe she sneaked into the bedroom and shot him over money," defense attorney Cody Cofer said in his closing statement. "It doesn't make sense."

Prosecutors said that Michele Williams cleaned off her husband's hands after his death and repositioned his body, as well as moving and cleaning the .45-caliber handgun used in the slaying.

Defense attorneys argued that Michele Williams panicked on the morning of Oct. 13, 2011.

"Those were hardly the actions of someone in shock," said prosecutor Sheila Wynn on Monday, referring to the cleaning and moving of evidence.

Strickland told jurors that defense attorneys wanted the jury to forget a few elements in the case.

"Why would you spend $33,000 on lawyers just 72 hours after you say your husband killed himself," Strickland said Monday morning. "She lives in a fantasy world where wrong is right. She wants to draw you into it."

Strickland noted that Michele Williams has lied time after time during the whole case.

"She asked her own son to try and set up evidence to convict Greg's ex-wife in the case." Strickland said.

Cofer told jurors that Greg Williams was troubled, his best friend had committed suicide, his grandmother had died and he had a debt problem.

"We know it wasn't going well for him," Cofer said.

Defense attorneys called five witnesses last week.

Also last week, jurors watched a 2011 videotaped interview with Keller police in which Michele Williams told officers that an intruder broke into their Keller home that night and shot her husband. But she later changed her story and told officers that her husband committed suicide.

Michele Williams reached a plea agreement with prosecutors last year, and was ready to enter a guilty plea to a deadly conduct charge and tampering with evidence.

But a judge threw out her plea after she told 48 Hours in an interview that she was innocent.

Documents presented during the trial showed that Michele Williams and her young daughter stood to benefit from three life insurance policies on Greg Williams worth hundreds of thousands.

Domingo Ramirez Jr., 817-390-7763 Twitter: @mingoramirezjr

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