James Arthur Williams

For other people with similar names, see James Williams and Jim Williams.

James Arthur Williams (or Jim Williams) (December 11, 1930 - January 14, 1990) was the only person in the state of Georgia ever to be tried four times for the same crime – the alleged murder of his assistant, Danny Lewis Hansford, on May 2, 1981, in Williams's home, Mercer House.

Life

Williams was born in Gordon, Georgia. As a noted Savannah, Georgia antiques dealer and historic preservationist, he played an active role in the preservation of Savannah's historic district. In 1955, he bought and restored his first three old houses at 541, 543 and 545 East Congress Street when he was just 24 years old.^[1] Over the next 35 years, he would restore more than 50 homes in Savannah and the lowcountry of Georgia and South Carolina. Notable Savannah houses he restored include: Odingsell House, Merault House, Hampton Lillibridge House, Habersham's Pink House, Armstrong House and Mercer House.^[1]

In 1969, Williams purchased the home, which was originally built for General Hugh Weedon Mercer, great-grandfather of songwriter Johnny Mercer. It had been vacant for almost a decade since its last occupants, the Shriners organization, had used the building as their Alee Temple. For two years, Williams painstakingly restored the home, which he used as his personal residence^[1] while operating his antiques restoration business out of the carriage house in the rear of the mansion.

Arrest and trials

Williams was arrested in 1981 for the shooting death of Danny Hansford, with whom he had a sexual relationship. After the subsequent four trials, Williams was finally acquitted by a jury in Augusta, Georgia in 1989.

Bobby Lee Cook defended Williams during the first trial. Williams was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. He appealed, posting a $200,000 bond. Cook subsequently received, anonymously, a copy of the police report showing that the arresting officer had contradicted himself. The judgment was overturned and a new trial was ordered.

Sonny Seiler assumed Williams's defense at the second trial and decided to have Williams openly bring up his sexuality. Little else differed from the first trial. The Georgia Supreme Court overturned the conviction saying the sheriff should not have been allowed to testify as an expert, and that the prosecutor waited until his closing argument to demonstrate some evidence.

New evidence at the third trial showed the victim’s hands were not bagged by the police at the crime scene, a possible explanation for the lack of gunpowder residue. During deliberations, a juror supposedly called a paramedic to ask some medical questions, though it could not be proven. After two deliberations, the jury still had not reached a verdict, one woman adamantly insisting she saw reasonable doubt and would not alter her verdict. With 11:1 jurors in favor of a "guilty" verdict, it was declared a hung jury and resulted in a mistrial.

The fourth trial began two years later with a change of venue to Augusta, Georgia. The jury took one hour to come back with a verdict of not guilty.

Death

On January 14, 1990, six months after the trial, Williams died unexpectedly in his home, aged 59, from pneumonia and heart failure. It is often said that Williams fell dead in nearly the same spot where Danny Hansford was shot to death nearly a decade earlier, but he in fact died in the foyer outside of the office where Danny Hansford was shot. He is buried next to his mother, Blanche Brooks Williams, in Ramah Church Cemetery, Gordon, Georgia.

References

• Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (ISBN 0-679-75152-1)
• More than Mercer House: Savannah's Jim Williams and his Southern Houses (ISBN 0-9672187-0-5)

External links

• Mercer Williams House Museum site
• James Arthur Williams at Find a Grave