New trial for Watson?

Error in document key to defense argument

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

James Lamar Watson Jr., convicted last summer of murdering his wife, Beverley, may get a new trial if a judge allows a request to set aside the indictment against him.

It is not clear whether Watson would be freed on bond if a new trial is granted, but it certainly would be a blow to prosecutors, who used a large amount of circumstantial evidence with a small amount of physical evidence to convince a Fulton County jury of Watson's guilt last summer.

Defense attorney Lee Sexton asked the presiding judge on the case to set aside the indictment and grant a new trial for Watson because the document stated that Jim Watson killed his wife in Fulton County. The state, however, failed to prove that in last summer's trial, Sexton said in a court hearing Friday morning.

"They are bound by what they put in the indictment," Sexton said of the prosecutors' duty. "... There is not one scintilla of evidence that she was killed in Fulton County."

Assistant District Attorney Christopher Quinn countered Sexton, saying the state did not have a burden to prove Beverley Watson was killed in Fulton County. Georgia law allows Fulton County to prosecute Watson because the manner Mrs. Watson was killed is unknown, Quinn added.

"He was charged in accordance with statutory law and case law," Quinn said. "Mr. Watson was put on sufficient notice of what he was charged with murdering his wife."

Beverley Watson's remains, which were identified through dental records, were found in a wooded area in south Fulton County in 1999, over two years after she disappeared. That break changed the case from a missing person investigation to a homicide, and it allowed Fulton County prosecutors to take over the case from Fayette officials, who had not filed murder charges by the time Fulton County arrested him in January of last year.

Prosecutors could not prove how Beverley Watson died, but the medical examiner who studied her remains concluded she was likely murdered because of the remote location her remains were found.

After Friday's hearing, Fulton County Superior Court Judge T. Jackson Bedford reserved his ruling on the defense motion for a new trial without indicating when he expects to render a decision.

Judge Bedford reminded Quinn that Sexton was challenging the legality of the indictment and not venue in the case, which is controlled by the law Quinn was referring to.

Sexton pointed out that prosecutor Sheila Ross, no longer with the Fulton County District Attorney's Office, told jurors in her closing argument that Jim Watson killed Beverley in Fayette County.

Quinn noted that the contents of closing arguments are not considered evidence under Georgia law and there was no evidence submitted to indicate where Beverley Watson was killed.

Quinn added that prosecutors presented witnesses that countered the defense contention that Beverley Watson walked away from the couple's home Jan. 18, 1997 after they argued. He pointed to the transcript of the trial for testimony of several witnesses who lived in the neighborhood one of whom said he saw Jim Watson carrying something outside the couple's home the evening Beverley Watson disappeared.

Watson never mentioned going outside the home in a three-hour interview with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, prosecutors said during the trial. Instead, he told agents he watched TV and went to bed after playing with the family's dogs.

Watson also told GBI agents that he assumed his wife had arranged for a friend to pick her up that evening. He noted that he had heard the front door chime just before she left the couple's home; the chime always rang anytime the front door was opened, he said.