AUSTIN, Texas — A former Austin businessman will get a new federal trial.
On Tuesday, a Tennessee judge granted Erik Charles Maund's motion for a new trial after he was convicted of hiring men to kill a woman he was having an affair with, along with her boyfriend.
Maund, along with Bryon Brockway and Adam Carey, were found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire after Holly Williams and William Lanway were found dead in a car in Nashville in 2020.
Now a judge has ruled that an administrative mistake caused certain things that were not admitted into evidence during the trial to be shown to jurors as they deliberated. The court clerk found out when members of the media started asking about the trial exhibits after the trial was over.
Despite the motion for a new trial being granted, the new trial's timeline is still up in the air.
Brockway and Carey were convicted on all charges, including kidnapping resulting in death and conspiracy to commit kidnapping. Maund was found not guilty of kidnapping resulting in death. The maximum sentence for federal murder-for-hire is life in prison or death.
In December 2022, Gilad Peled pled guilty to three charges after he was indicted. All four men were charged in connection to the kidnapping and murder of Williams and Lanway in March 2020 in Nashville.
An indictment obtained by KVUE stated Maund frequently traveled to Nashville to visit a relative. In February 2020, Maund started texting Williams, whom he previously had a relationship with.
According to court documents, Williams' estranged boyfriend, Lanway, found out and demanded money from Maund, threatening to expose his relationship with Williams if he wasn't paid. On March 12, 2020, Williams and Lanway were found dead in a car in Nashville.
The couple were kidnapped and shot to death, then left in the car, according to records. A press release stated that their bodies were discovered near a construction site by a worker.
Peled, Brockway and Carey traveled to Nashville to kidnap, threaten and intimidate the couple, according to the indictment. Maund paid the three men more than $750,000 for the kidnapping and murder.