http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/U-S-prosecutor-quits-Aryan-case-citing-security-4404136.php
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/03/31/Last-Words-Breitbart-s-Darby-Interviewed-Slain-Texas-DA-Before-Death
( White Supremists and Mexican Drug Cartels working together in the meth trade here in the US - might that have played a role here ? )
Last interview Before his murder.....
and.....
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/01/us/second-prosecutor-shot-to-death-in-texas-county.html?_r=0
http://beforeitsnews.com/politics/2013/03/texas-da-wife-killed-others-in-hiding-2505458.html
( What has gone down that has put such fear in prosecutors that they have gone into hiding ? )
"I live in Kaufman county and I can speak on behalf of friends and family who learned of this just before 10 pm.....We are tired of what is going on in our town and believe me there is SOMETHING going on around here. We are very sad that there are five grown childten of Mr. and Mrs. McLelland who have lost both of their parents tonight.
http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Kaufman-County-District-Attorney-Wife-Found-Dead-in-Home-200752591.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/31/texas-prosecutor-wife-found-dead
U.S. prosecutor quits Aryan case, citing security
By James Pinkerton | April 2, 2013 | Updated: April 3, 2013 11:43am
More Information
A federal prosecutor in a major case in Houston against the notorious Aryan Brotherhood of Texas prison gang has withdrawn over security concerns in the wake of the weekend killings of a Dallas-area district attorney and his wife, said a source familiar with the case.
Jay Hileman, an assistant U.S. Attorney, had been assigned to the case.
Houston defense attorney Gus Saper, who represents alleged Aryan gang leader Terry Ross Blake, confirmed prosecutor Hileman notified him he was no longer on the case.
"I'd say it's not a regular thing. You know people get transferred and moved around the (prosecutor's) office, so people get moved on and off cases," said Saper. "But I would say this situation is probably a little bit different from all of those."
State and federal authorities are investigating whether the killings of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, along with the January slaying of his assistant,Mark Hasse, are linked to alleged threats by white supremacist gang members to retaliate against law enforcement.
The weekend slayings at the prosecutor's home have prompted stepped up security measures to protect a number of Texas prosecutors, including Harris County District Attorney Mike Anderson.
The federal racketeering case against 34 members of the racist gang, a three-year investigation spearheaded by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the FBI, was announced in November by Assistant U.S. Attorney General Lanny Breuer and U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson.
Three slayings were attributed to gang members, including the killing of a Houston man whose bullet-riddled body was found near the Houston Ship Channel.
Little official comment
Angela Dodge, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, issued a brief statement.
"The case currently pending in the Southern District of Texas has been and will continue to be worked by the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas in partnership with the Department of Justice's Criminal Division," Dodge said. "Beyond that, we cannot comment further."
Houston defense attorney Tom Berg, who has represented members of several prison gangs, said it was unusual for an assistant prosecutor to withdraw from a case.
But he noted that federal racketeering cases that involve homicides are considered very dangerous.
"It's speculation, and sure it could be jitters based on Kaufman County, or it could be something completely independent that provoked it," said Berg, who added that law enforcement would be reluctant to release any specific information.
"So there's a general hunkering down going on with prosecutors that are related to some of these gang prosecutions."
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/03/31/Last-Words-Breitbart-s-Darby-Interviewed-Slain-Texas-DA-Before-Death
( White Supremists and Mexican Drug Cartels working together in the meth trade here in the US - might that have played a role here ? )
Last interview Before his murder.....
On Saturday, Mar. 30, the bodies of 23-year Army veteran and Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife Cynthia were found in their home, the victims of an apparent assassination.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a law enforcement official described the scene at the McLelland’s home as “awful,” with “shell casings everywhere.” This caused Forney Mayor Darren Rozell and local defense attorney Eric Smenner both to suggest the McLellands were targeted:
In December, the Texas Department of Public Safety had issued a statewide bulletin warning that authorities had received “credible information” that the Aryan Brotherhood was “actively planning retaliation against law enforcement officials” who helped secure indictments in Houston against dozens of members, including the gang’s leadership.“High ranking members… are involved in issuing orders to inflict ‘mass casualties or death’ to law enforcement officials who were involved in cases where Aryan Brotherhood of Texas are facing life sentences or the death penalty,” the bulletin stated.
A national security expert who has spent several years in intelligence gathering operations around the Mexican drug cartels' criminal insurgency into the continental United States told Breitbart News, "This assassination of DA McClellend and his wife is meant to send a message: no one is safe, no one is beyond our reach. We will kill you and your loved ones. We are in control here."
"This is a significant point of escalation in the crisis," he continued. "This type of high-profile targeting of public officials is a classic insurgent tactic. Its escalating use inside the US shows a complete lack of fear of consequences and demonstrates the fundamental shift in the strategic landscape that has already occurred.
"The criminal insurgencies and their gang foot soldiers have exported the type of warfare that brought Mexico to its knees deep into our sovereign territory. They are waging a war: targeting, assassinating, using terror tactics—and our law enforcement is outgunned and overwhelmed.”
Breitbart News interviewed McLelland several weeks ago as part of an investigation into Mexican drug cartel criminal insurgency operations in the United States, including Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and the city of Chicago. Breitbart News's Brandon Darby conducted the interview with D.A. McLelland in his office in Kaufman, TX.
McLelland spoke about the recent assassination of his Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse, who was himself gunned down in broad daylight on the Kaufman County Courthouse steps by a masked gunman who has yet to be apprehended.
Also, on March 19, Colorado’s prisons director, Tom Clements, was shot and killed while answering his front doorbell at his home outside Colorado Springs. The suspect in that case was Evan Spencer Ebel, a member of a white supremacist prison gang, later shot while trying to escape authorities on March 21st.
Breitbart News wanted to ask McLelland specifically about potential connections between the Mexican cartels and the Aryan Brotherhood—whether the Aryan Brotherhood seemed to be acting on the cartels' behalf.
The following is the portion of the conversation that McLelland permitted Breitbart News to place on record. The rest he asked be kept off the record.
McLellan: Mark [Hasse] was a hell of a good man, he never minced words. He was fearless. He came in to this office and started taking cases that had been left for years by previous prosecutors. Justice mattered to him.
Breitbart News: I’ve noticed just how secure this building is and how everyone looks so alert and nervous. This isn’t at all what small town or small county couthouses in Texas are usually like. Is this level of security normal around here? Will stay it stay this way?
McLelland: In Kaufman County, everybody is somebody’s cousin and knows each other. We’re not used to this, but it has to be this way now.
Breitbart News: I’m sorry for your loss. I can only imagine how this affects you all personally, but what does your loss mean professionally, for this office?
McLelland: You can’t replace a really good guy that everyone liked. You can’t replace 30 years of knowledge just like that either.
Breitbart News: What would he want you guys to do?
McLelland: He would want us to drive on and go get the guys, to go get them.
Breitbart News: What changes do you want to see from this? What could be done to keep prosecutors safer?
McLelland: We need to be just like other law enforcement officers. We need to be allowed to open carry our sidearms. There’s a state representative named Lance Gooden [R-4th District] who I’ve spoken with about this and he’ll do something. He’ll make something happen.
Breitbart News: Earlier you said you didn’t want to comment on the investigation, and I understand. But I have to ask. Some have said you guys were going after the Aryan Brotherhood. Some have said low-level Mexican cartels have had involvement with the Aryan Brotherhood in Texas regarding methamphetamine trafficking?
McLelland: Interesting. I can’t comment on any of that.
Breitbart News: Is it possible the Aryan Brotherhood is either acting as hitmen or paying prosecutors back? Are you guys looking into that?
McLelland: I can’t comment on that investigation. I will say with the caliber of people working on it, I feel confident justice will be served.
http://www.businessinsider.com/texas-da-killing-is-unprecedented-2013-4
The Assassination Of Two Texas Prosecutors Is Utterly Terrifying
Erin Fuchs | Apr. 1, 2013, 6:08 PM | 2,490 | 9
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AP Photo/Mike Fuentes
A sheriff's official lowers the Kaufman County flag to half-staff on March 31.
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The murder a Texas district attorney and his wife months after an assistant DA was gunned down in broad daylight is virtually unprecedented in the United States.
Former SWAT officer Glenn McGovern, an expert on these types of assassinations, shed some light on the recent Texas slayings in an interview with NPR. He's never seen such brazen assassinations back to back.
"I have only seen this type of targeted attack, where you hit two members within a short period of time within the same organization, in attacks in Sicily and Colombia and Mexico. It, to my knowledge, has never happened here in the U.S.," McGovern told NPR.
Kaufman County DA Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, were killed at home on Saturday two months after assistant DA Mark Hasse was shot dead in broad daylight outside a courthouse.
Their killers are at large, but officials believe the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas may be the culprit since the DA's office was part of a huge crackdown on the white supremacist prison gang.
While such back-to-back assassinations are rare, McGovern says targeted killings of prosecutors, judges, and senior law enforcement officials are on the rise.
There have been 15 of these types of attacks so far in this decade — a significant and "unprecedented" increase from previous decades, according to McGovern. (Three years into the 1980s there were only two targeted attacks of senior law enforcement.)
The attacks on the McLellands and Hasse were particularly unnerving, though. They'd been warned the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas might be seeking retribution, and Hasse carried a gun to work every single day.
McLelland carried a gun everywhere and seemed to be on high alert.
“I’m ahead of everybody else because, basically, I’m a soldier,” McLelland, an Army veteran, told the AP just two weeks before he was killed.
If two officials on high alert can be slayed, what's to stop disgruntled defendants from ordering hits on any prosecutor who file charges against them?
McGovern actually said he doesn't think a "white supremacist prison gang" is behind the Texas prosecutors' slayings because the killers managed to get away so easily.
"To me, that takes some skill, to get away cleanly as well. Just, on the face of it, it shows me that you're dealing with somebody who has some training," McGovern told NPR.
It's also possible a prison gang has become so powerful it can hire highly skilled hit men to intimidate the people who can put its members behind bars. That is a truly terrifying possibility.
and.....
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/01/us/second-prosecutor-shot-to-death-in-texas-county.html?_r=0
http://beforeitsnews.com/politics/2013/03/texas-da-wife-killed-others-in-hiding-2505458.html
( What has gone down that has put such fear in prosecutors that they have gone into hiding ? )
Kaufman County, Texas prosecutor Mike McLelland and his wife were gunned down in their homes Saturday night, nearly two months to the exact day after his top assistant was gunned down on his way to work back in January. According to the Dallas News, officials are worried that this might be a part of some type of 'plot' while we also have learned that one former Kaufman County prosecutor was "in hiding" Saturday evening and said others were as well. The former assistant DA gunned down in January 'feared for his life' according to the two video news reports about the deaths of each of these men down below.
Kaufman County’s district attorney and his wife were found slain Saturday, raising fears that their deaths may be part of a plot that included the death of one of the county’s assistant district attorneys in January.
McLelland had vowed to catch former assistant DA Mark Hasse's killers, recently saying, "I hope that the people that did this are watching. Because we're very confident that we're going to find you, pull you out of whatever hole you're in, bring you back and let the people of Kaufman County prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law." More below.
At the current moment, FBI and the Texas Rangers are handling this case; they also were still in the process of investigating the killing of Mark Hasse.
According to a post on a public forum by a Kaufman County resident, the place has recently been a very unpleasant place to live with tensions so thick you could cut them with a knife. With prosecutors going into hiding and two recent killings, it sounds like something that needs to be examined much more closely. The theories range from drug cartels on the loose to a Child Protective Service cover-up according to linked public forum and the linked blog,KaufmanCountyCorruption. Any ideas? Here's one of them from a Kaufman County resident.:
"I live in Kaufman county and I can speak on behalf of friends and family who learned of this just before 10 pm.....We are tired of what is going on in our town and believe me there is SOMETHING going on around here. We are very sad that there are five grown childten of Mr. and Mrs. McLelland who have lost both of their parents tonight.
We do not know what is going on around here but there is a bad vibe all around. Besides the assasinations of two Kaufman County DAttorneyws we have had a sudden increase in brazen armed robberies by two bandana wearing masked men in the last three weeks!!"
http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Kaufman-County-District-Attorney-Wife-Found-Dead-in-Home-200752591.html
Kaufman County District Attorney, Wife, Found Dead in Home
Police to hold news conference on shootings Sunday morning
Mark Schnyder, NBC 5 News
Authorities are investigating the deaths of a North Texas county district attorney and his wife who were found dead in a rural Kaufman County home.
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Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife Cynthia were found shot to death inside their Forney home Saturday, nearly two months to the day after his top assistant was gunned down on his way to workearlier this year.
Kaufman County Sheriff's Department investigators confirmed the deaths to NBC 5 Saturday evening, but had little else to say in the early stages of the investigation.
One source close to the probe said the top prosecutor and his wife were found by a concerned relative or close friend who had gone to the house about 4 p.m. after being unable to reach them.
Other sources told NBC 5 that the McLelland's front door may have been kicked in and that gunshots had been fired, though police have not independently confirmed that information.
There was no immediate confirmed link between Saturday's murders and the Jan. 31 slaying of Kaufman County Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse, but it would be hard to not speculate on possible connections. With that in mind, officials contacted all Kaufman County officials to ensure their safety Saturday. One former Kaufman County prosecutor was "in hiding" Saturday evening and said others were as well.
While police officers are frequently the target of violence while trying to apprehend criminals, attacks on prosecutors are extremely rare though not unheard of. McLelland said as much in January when speaking about his slain friend when he said Hasse was aware of the dangers associated with being a prosecutor.
At the time, he described Hasse as a really, really good man that was an excellent friend and a spectacular prosecutor who wouldn't be easily replaced. He also vowed to catch Hasse's killers saying, "I hope that the people that did this are watching. Because we're very confident thatwe're going to find you, pull you out of whatever hole you're in, bring you back and let the people of Kaufman County prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law."
FBI agents and Texas Rangers, who were still investigating the unsolved slaying of Hasse, are now leading the investigation into Saturday's murders, according to a federal law enforcement source.
McLelland and his wife, Cynthia Woodward McLelland, have five children including two daughters and three sons. One of the sons is a Dallas police officer.
Investigators are expected to hold a news conference Sunday morning. More information is expected to be released at that time.
NBC 5's Ray Villeda and Scott Gordon contributed to this report.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/31/texas-prosecutor-wife-found-dead
Texas prosecutor Mike McLelland and his wife shot dead in their home
Kaufman County district attorney found dead three months after assistant was shot in a parking lot in still-unsolved murder
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Authorities work in the middle of Blarney Stone Way, where the DA and his wife were found dead in their home. Photograph: Ian C Bates/The Dallas Morning News/AP
A central Texas prosecutor and his wife were found killed in their house two months after one of his assistants was gunned down near their office, authorities said.
Investigators found the bodies of Kaufman County district attorney Mike McLelland (pictured below) and his wife, Cynthia, on Saturday, Kaufman County sheriff's Lt Justin Lewis said. Police, FBI agents, Texas Rangers and deputies were part of the investigation.
Assistant district attorney Mark Hasse was shot to death in a parking lot a block from his office on January 31. No arrests have been made in his death.
Lewis declined to say how the couple died or whether authorities believe their deaths are linked to Hasse's. He wouldn't provide further details. Kaufman County is 33 miles southeast of Dallas.
Kaufman police chief Chris Aulbaugh told The Dallas Morning News that the McLellands had been shot in their home and although investigators didn't know if their deaths were related to Hasse's killing, they couldn't discount it.
"It is a shock," Aulbaugh told the newspaper. "It was a shock with Mark Hasse, and now you can just imagine the double shock and until we know what happened, I really can't confirm that it's related but you always have to assume until it's proven otherwise."
Sam Rosander, who lives in the same unincorporated area of Kaufman County as the McLellands, told the Associated Press on Saturday that sheriff's deputies were parked in the district attorney's driveway for about a month after Hasse was killed.
Aulbaugh said recently that the FBI was checking to see if Hasse's killing could be related to the March 19 killing of Colorado department of corrections head Tom Clements, who was gunned down after answering the doorbell at his home.
Evan Spencer Ebel, a former Colorado inmate and white supremacist who authorities believe killed Clements and a pizza deliveryman two days earlier, was killed in a March 21 shootout with Texas deputies about 100 miles from Kaufman.
Hasse was chief of the organized crime unit when he was an assistant prosecutor in Dallas County in the 1980s, and he handled similar cases in Kaufman County. After Hasse was killed, McLelland had said Hasse was one of 12 attorneys on his staff, all of whom handle hundreds of cases at a time.
"Anything anybody can think of, we're looking through," McLelland said after Hasse's death.
McLelland graduated from the University of Texas before a 23-year career in the army, according to the website for the district attorney's office. He later earned his law degree from the Texas Wesleyan School of Law.
He and his wife have two daughters and three sons. One son is a police officer in Dallas.
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