Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

In the opening arguments, Lawton explains that he will prove to the jury that Williams shot Hansford “in cold blood and with malice aforethought and that afterward Williams had engaged in elaborate efforts not only to cover up what he had done but to make it appear that he had done it in self-defense” (211). Bobby Lee Cook, the head lawyer for the defense, gives his opening argument, saying that he will disprove Lawton’s assertions and prove that Hansford’s violence was the reason for the shooting.

Lawton calls on witnesses to prove that Williams fired on an unarmed Hansford, and after Hansford lay face down on the floor, Williams came to him, firing two more shots. Lawton maintains that Williams then proceeded to make the scene look like a violent confrontation, shooting a second gun at his desk stacked with papers to make it look like Hansford had shot at him first. Additionally, Williams knocked over furniture to create evidence showing Hansford’s fury. Lawton’s witnesses show Williams’s evident manipulation of the crime scene: The paper fragments rested on top of Williams’s gun, showing that Hansford’s alleged gunshot struck the desk after Williams put his gun down. This proves that Williams, not Hansford, shot at the desk. The prosecution then describes other discrepancies in Williams’s testimony.

Cook challenges the witnesses for the prosecution, showing that it would be impossible for Williams to have shot Hansford while he was lying face down, based on the location of the bullet holes. He then produces a witness who challenges the state’s interpretation of the lack of gunshot residue on Hansford’s hands. Dr. Joseph Burton, an experienced medical examiner, testifies that negative results do not indicate the deceased did not fire a weapon. He testifies to the spinning Hansford theory discussed in the last chapter, suggesting that the first shot had the power to turn Hansford as Williams shot twice more, explaining the separate locations of the wounds. In addition, the defense calls witnesses who testify to Hansford’s violent nature.

At this point, “the prevailing opinion in the corridors of the courthouse was that Bobby Lee Cook had raised just enough doubt about the state’s case to enable jurors to vote ‘not guilty’ in good conscience” (218). When Williams takes the stand, he explains calmly and sympathetically how he had tried to help Hansford, not only with a job but also with some mentorship in guiding his troubled life. When Lawton cross-examines him, trying to get him to admit to his sexual relationship with Hansford, Williams remains aloof and refuses to admit to any of it. Lawton calls on more witnesses who assert that Williams was indeed involved in a sexual relationship with Hansford, a relationship marked by Williams’s jealous manipulations.

In closing arguments, Lawton makes a surprising allegation, suggesting that the murder was not self-defense and was not even crime of passion, but instead was a coldly calculated murder. Lawton says that a month before the murder, Williams staged a different scene for the police. Lawton claimed that Williams trashed his own house and then called the police, claiming that Hansford had done all the damage, including shooting one of his guns in the house. When the police officer Corporal Michael Anderson examined the bullet hole, he could not find a bullet, and therefore could not determine if the bullet hole was fresh or not. The defense had no chance to cross-examine Anderson. When the jury reconvenes, they find Williams guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. 

Williams’s conviction shocks to everyone, especially when they consider the very real possibility of Williams going to Reidsville State Penitentiary, a notorious prison. The court releases Williams on bail, and although he tries to continue life as usual, he feels the constraints of his smaller social circle as a convicted murderer: “Old friends called, but less often” (234).

Williams is also bitter about what he sees as a double standard for Savannah’s elite. Other famous Savannahians did much worse than he did, he claims, and yet they were able to get away with it. He is especially bitter about the old Savannah ways and feels that the city is punishing him for being an outsider: “When people like that see somebody like me, who’s never joined their silly pecking order and who’s taken great risks and succeeded, they loathe that person” (235).

However, the knowledge that Lawton falsified the evidence in his closing arguments about the bullet hole comes to light. As a result, the judge reverses the ruling and schedules a new trial for Williams.