Spencer Lawton the Savannah GA Prosecutor Who Tried the "Midnight in the Garden" Case Dies at 81 - The case that went to four trials was chronicled in the book "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" by John Berendt that had as a centrepiece a statue in Savannah's Bonaventure Cemetery
(apnews.com)https://apnews.com/article/spencer-lawton-district-attorney-midnight-savannah-851260648862ac7f391cc28c2eed6ccdMidnight in the Garden of Good and Evil![]()
.Townspeople always wondered why calm, collect Jim Williams kept Danny Hansford around, who was always getting in bar fights and generally causing mayhem, but it seemed like he was just doing the kid a favor. That is, until Danny and Jim got in a fight in the front parlor of Williams’ home, known as the Mercer House, located near the Victorian District and Forsyth Park in the Historic Center.Williams alleged that he shot Hansford in self-defense in that front parlor, although the evidence showed otherwise, which led to four mistrials which eventually led to Williams acquittal. Throughout the mess of the four trials, Williams was a visitor to a voodoo witch in Bonaventure Cemetery, located outside of Savannah. Following his acquittal Williams passed away very suddenly of a heart attack in his front parlor sitting room. In the exact same spot where Hansford fell years before. Link. Hansford had been called by Williams to come to his home and perform a sex act upon him, he came and did it whereupon as boy prostitutes are wont to do he badmouthed his client, who took a pistol from a drawer and shot him dead .. that is how I see it.
