Michele Williams convicted of killing husband in Keller

A mother accused of killing her husband while their young daughter slept in another room — and who gave investigators and the media at least two accounts about what happened — was convicted of murder Monday.

Michele Williams, 45, was found guilty of fatally shooting Greg Williams as he slept in their bed at their Keller home the morning of Oct. 13, 2011.

The Tarrant County jury deliberated about seven hours Monday and had lunch brought in before returning the verdict shortly before 6 p.m.

Jurors also found Williams guilty of tampering with evidence involving a gun but acquitted her of a count of tampering with her husband’s body.

Williams cried after state District Judge George Gallagher read the verdicts.

The punishment phase of the trial will begin Tuesday morning.

Williams faces a maximum of life in prison on the murder charge and 10 years on the tampering case.

Early in their deliberations, jurors asked for and received Michele Williams’ written statement to police, a Police Department sketch of the couple’s home, floor plans, photos of all the family rooms, the autopsy and close-up photos of Greg Williams’ right hand.

In the late afternoon, the jury asked for the gun used in the shooting and a yardstick.

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

In his closing argument Monday morning, a prosecutor called Williams a “coldblooded” killer who has been telling lies for years. Jurors should not believe defense attorneys’ arguments that 40-year-old Greg Williams shot himself, 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 continued to say that Greg Williams killed himself as his wife 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. She also moved and cleaned the .45-caliber handgun that killed her husband, they said.

Defense attorneys argued that Michele Williams panicked when she realized her husband was dead.

Prosecutor Sheila Wynn countered, “Those were hardly the actions of someone in shock.”

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 said Michele Williams 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 [life] wasn’t going well for him,” Cofer said.

Last week, defense attorneys called five witnesses. Michele Williams did not testify.

The prosecution presented evidence that Michele Williams and her young daughter stood to benefit from three life insurance policies on Greg Williams.

Also last week, jurors watched a videotaped interview with Keller police in which Michele Williams told officers hours after the shooting that an intruder broke into their home in the 1400 block of Jacob Avenue and shot her husband. But she later switched 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 charges of deadly conduct and tampering with evidence.

But a judge threw out her plea after she told the TV news program 48 Hours that she was innocent of all charges.

During the punishment phase, jurors could hear about offenses and acts by Williams. Those include numerous bond violations, faking a pregnancy, working as a waitress at a strip club in Dallas County, searching the Internet for information about creating fake birth certificates, identification cards and Social Security cards and using search terms such as “how to live life as a fugitive,” according to court documents.

She also pursued a side business, Pleasure Builder, in which participants allow others to view sexual recordings for money, according to documents filed by prosecutors.

This story was originally published September 29, 2014 at 11:44 AM with the headline "Michele Williams convicted of killing husband in Keller."