MOUNT VERNON — Judge CJ Williams has had a long career in Iowa, in both law and writing. But for Williams, who was born in Mount Pleasant, it almost never happened.

“My high school counselor told me that I would never make it in college and suggested trade schools,” said Wil- liams. “I ignored him, applied myself my senior year in high school, and attended the University of Iowa where I earned my bachelor’s and law degrees with high honors.” “My career has been a series of fortunate events,” said
Williams. “There were no lawyers in my family history and I never planned on a legal career.”

After excelling in law school, Williams did a judicial clerkship under a federal judge in Washington D.C.

“While there, I watched two attorneys from the United States Department of Justice argue a case before my judge,” said Williams. “I decided I wanted to be as good as them, so I went to the Department in Washington where I worked in the Narcotics and Dangerous Drug Section for two years.”

From there Williams spent some time in private practice, before rejoining the Department of Justice as an Assistant United States Attorney. Williams became a United States Magistrate Judge in 2016, and in 2018 he was nominated and confirmed as a United States District Court Judge.

“I’m in court presiding over hearings or trials almost every day,” Williams said. “When I’m not in court, I’m researching and writing judicial opinions.”

Besides judicial opinions, Williams fills his time writing in other genres.

“I first began writing in law school when I published a law review article in 1988,” said Williams. “I have since published 16 additional law review articles, with my 18th one accepted for publication and will come out this fall.”

William said he has previously tried fiction writing, but gave up that genre “except for a couple short stories published in the Washington Post when [he] lived there in 1990-92.”

Overall, William’s main genre of writing is legal based.

He published his first book, a legal textbook, in 2016. Williams also has a second legal textbook published, two other published books for practicing lawyers, with a third that will be coming out later in the year.

A Monster in Mount Pleasant is William’s first book in the true crime genre, and is based off the murders committed by Monte Seager in Mount Pleasant in 1978 and 1979.

“Mount Pleasant was my home town,” said Williams. “I knew the victims, and the murderer.”

Each book takes about two years on average to write, with A Monster in Mount Pleasant taking about 2.5 years to complete. A large part of the process is going through the piles of data and evidence associated with the case.

“I went through court files and police records, visited the key sites, and interviewed more than a score of people involved, including prosecutors, police officers, witnesses, classmates, victims’ family members, and the murderer himself,” said Williams.

Williams has a unique perspective on the topic, due to his first-hand experience with the story and his deep background in the legal field.

Williams was classmates with one of the three victims, and coworkers with another.

“Though we may never be able to fully comprehend how someone can commit such brutal murders, knowing something of Seager’s background will at least give us some insight as to what led him to the point where he thought he had the right to take the lives of innocent people,” Williams said.

Williams also worked to tell the story in a way that he felt portrayed the crimes in an accurate light, while taking the time to honor the victims that lost their lives as a result of the violence.

“My goal in writing the book was to focus on the victims, show that they were blameless and innocent, explain Seager’s background and his motive, and get the truth out about the killings,” said Williams. “In contrast to many true crime books, I intentionally avoided aggrandizing the murderer and sensationalizing the violent acts themselves.”

The book reading will be held May 20, 6:30 p.m., at the Cole Library in Mount Vernon. At a previous talk Williams gave regarding the book, 275 people attended. Williams hopes that the book will leave a lasting impact on the local community and beyond.

“I hope the audience learns more about the victims and the murderer, and come to understand that bad things happen to good people,” said Williams. “I hope they also walk away with the understanding that, though evil exists, the vast majority of people are good.”