Dream Team members included Damita Sangermano (first row left) and DA Kenda Culpepper (first row, second from left). Click to enlarge.
DALLAS – Rockwall County Criminal District Attorney Kenda Culpepper and First Assistant Criminal DA Damita Sangermano were among 12 legal “Dream Team” members who received a prestigious award from the Texas District and County Attorneys Association (TDCAA) last week for their roles in convicting Eric Williams of capital murder in 2014.
Williams was the former Kaufman Co. Justice of the Peace who was sentenced to death in 2013 for killing Kaufman Co. DA Mike McLelland; his wife, Cynthia; and his First Assistant, Mark Hasse.
According to the TDCAA, the Lone Star Prosecutor Award recognizes prosecutors and prosecutor office personnel whose tireless work “in the trenches” advances justice in their communities.
“In honoring the prosecution team in the case State of Texas v. Eric Williams, TDCAA lauds those who spent many months securing justice and ended a very dark time for Texas prosecutors and staffs,” said Rob Kepple, TDCAA Executive Director.
“TDCAA’s Board of Directors and our Nominations Committee were proud to recognize the efforts of the lead lawyers, Bill Wirskye and Toby Shook but, at Bill and Toby’s insistence, we are recognizing the entire team who worked on the capital murder case of Eric Williams.”
He added that the award acknowledges that a successful prosecution is the work of three vital parts of a prosecutor office: the attorneys, investigators, and support staff.
“It took a team of 12 to secure justice for the murders of Mike McClelland, Cynthia McClelland and Mark Hasse.”
“It was just a massive undertaking,” said Wirskye, now a prosecutor in Collin County. “We had almost 25 terabytes of information collected during the investigation, and there’s no way to house, digest, and get that out for discovery without a huge team behind you. That’s why so many people stepped up and helped us, why so many people played such a valuable role. The whole case exemplified the best in Texas prosecution where everybody pitches in and we help one another.”
Trial team members – whom Wirskye dubbed the Dream Team – who received this award were:
• Miles Brissette, former prosecutor in Tarrant County
• Kenda Culpepper, criminal district attorney in Rockwall County, to whose jurisdiction the trial was moved because of publicity
• Tom D’Amore, former prosecutor in Dallas County
• Danny Nutt, investigator in the Tarrant County DA’s Office
• Mark Porter, investigator in the Tarrant County DA’s Office
• John Rolater, chief appellate prosecutor in Collin County
• Damita Sangermano, prosecutor in Rockwall County
• Toby Shook, special prosecutor and former prosecutor in Dallas County
• Jerri Sims, assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Texas and former prosecutor in Dallas County
• Lisa Smith, appellate prosecutor in Dallas County
• Rhona Wedderien, trial art coordinator in Tarrant County
• Bill Wirskye, special prosecutor and current prosecutor in Collin County
Shook, a former long-time felony prosecutor in Dallas County – and the only two-time winner of the Lone Star Prosecutor Award – has been in private practice at Shook & Gunter for nearly a decade. He said he misses collaborating with a team as they did on the Williams case.
“What I enjoyed about the Williams case was having the team effort in the prosecution,” said Shook. “That’s something I miss from the DA’s office. When you’re in private practice, the most collaboration you get is with one other attorney. But in this case it was a team effort, and working with a team of professionals is satisfying and a lot of fun.”
Both Wirskye and Shook say they are especially grateful to receive this award because it comes from their peers, from people who know how much work goes into a death-penalty case and who recognize how important this particular trial was because a murderer was targeting those in the criminal justice system.
“I was surprised and humbled by it,” Shook added.
“It’s meaningful coming from TDCAA,” said Wirskye, “because TDCAA members know how hard this type of trial is, how hard it is being gone from our families, and how important it was to the profession that we get it right.”
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