Shooting of Danny Hansford

Williams was tried four times, a record for the state of Georgia.[8] Bobby Lee Cook defended Williams during the first trial in 1982, presided over by Judge George Oliver. Williams was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. He appealed, posting the $100,000 bond. Cook later anonymously received a copy of the police report showing that the arresting officer had contradicted himself about a bullet hole in a floor in Mercer House. The verdict was overturned in January 1983 by the Georgia Supreme Court and a new trial was ordered.[5] As Berendt wrote in his book: "The ruling appeared to be little more than a temporary reprieve. The hole in the floor had been unimportant in the trial; the main points of evidence in Spencer Lawton's case against Williams still remained intact."[9]

Sonny Seiler assumed Williams' defense at the second trial beginning in September 1983 and decided to have Williams openly bring up his sexuality. Little else differed from the first trial: on October 8, Williams was again found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. In June 1985, the Georgia Supreme Court overturned the conviction again, stating that 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.[5]

The third trial, held in the spring of 1987, resulted in a mistrial. New evidence showed Hansford's hands were not bagged by the police at the crime scene, which meant that if there was gunpowder residue present on the victim's hands it could have been rubbed off during the subsequent movement of the body. 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, with one woman adamantly insisting she saw reasonable doubt and would not alter her verdict. On June 9, 1987, with 11-1 jurors in favor of a "guilty" verdict, it was declared a hung jury.

The fourth and final trial, which was moved to Augusta, resulted in Williams' acquittal in May 1989, eight years after his conviction,[4] after the jury's hour-long deliberation.[5]

On January 14, 1990, after eight months of being a free man, Williams collapsed and died at home. He is believed to have died in his study, the scene of the shooting.[10]