The Coweta Case: How a Georgia Sheriff Took Down a Killer

The King of Coweta County

During the Prohibition era and beyond, John Wallace was the most feared man in Coweta County, Georgia. He was a moonshiner, a criminal boss, and a murderer who operated with complete impunity.

Wallace controlled local law enforcement through intimidation and corruption. The sheriff did whatever Wallace told him to do. When Wallace killed someone—and he killed many people—he would simply call the sheriff to "come take the body away." No arrests. No investigations. No consequences.

Wallace had been convicted of federal crimes related to bootlegging and had served time in prison, but that didn't stop him. He continued his criminal empire, running moonshine operations and dairy holdings across the county.

People were terrified of John Wallace. And for good reason.

The Murder of Wilson Turner

In April 1948, a cattle farmer named Wilson Turner was released from jail on unrelated charges. Turner had crossed John Wallace, and Wallace decided Turner had to die.

Wallace recruited three accomplices:

•Herring, a dairy man Wallace had helped acquit of murder

•Henry Mobley, a loyal worker who lived on Wallace's farm

•Tom Strickland, Wallace's cousin who had murdered his own wife (Wallace helped cover it up)

When Turner was released, Wallace and his men chased him down Highway 41 in a high-speed pursuit. They ran Turner off the road, dragged him from his truck, and murdered him.

Then Wallace made a critical mistake: he dumped Wilson Turner's body in Meriwether County—just across the county line from Coweta.

Sheriff Lamar Potts Investigates

In Meriwether County, the sheriff was Lamar Potts—a man who could not be intimidated or bought.

When Turner's body was discovered, Sheriff Potts began investigating. He quickly identified John Wallace as the prime suspect, but Wallace was confident he would never be arrested. After all, he had gotten away with murder for decades.

But Sheriff Potts was relentless. He gathered evidence, interviewed witnesses, and built a case against Wallace and his accomplices. For the first time in his life, John Wallace was facing real consequences.

The Trial and Conviction

The trial of John Wallace became one of the most famous murder trials in Georgia history. It exposed decades of corruption, violence, and unchecked power in rural Georgia.

John Wallace was convicted of murdering Wilson Turner and sentenced to death. His accomplices were also convicted.

The Coweta Case marked the end of John Wallace's reign of terror. It proved that no one—no matter how powerful or feared—was above the law.

The Legacy

The Coweta Case remains a landmark in Georgia criminal justice history. It's a story of corruption, murder, and the courage of one sheriff who refused to look the other way.

Sheriff Lamar Potts brought justice to Wilson Turner and ended the criminal empire of John Wallace.

The case was later documented in the book and film "Murder in Coweta County."

TRANSCRIPT:

[00:00:00] John Wallace was a wealthy and ruthless landowner who ruled over Merriweather County, Georgia in the mid 20th century. Even having the sheriff under his control in 1948, he brutally murdered a man in Cota County for stealing two of his cows. And he assumed that his influence over those in power would keep him safe from justice.

But when witnesses came forward with detailed information and evidence against him, Wallace found himself entwined in a dramatic and historical case that would become the subject of two acclaimed Works, a book and a Made for TV movie.

Hey guys, and welcome to the Moms and Mysteries podcast, a True crime podcast featuring myself, Mandy, and my dear friend Melissa. Hi, Melissa. Hi Mandy. How are you? I am doing wonderful. I feel like. We have to talk about either whether or calendars. I'm choosing calendars [00:01:00] because January lasted a year and February has gone by in like two seconds.

I can't believe it's almost over. I know, but I'm gonna throw a little weather in there because lemme tell you, it is so beautiful today. I can't wait to get outside and yeah, it's gorgeous and like cooler and this is my kind of weather. I think it's everyone's kind of weather. But yes, I claim it for myself today.

Yes. And I extra appreciate it right now because my mom, who I've said before, lives in upstate New York. Yeah. Text me some pictures from looking out her front window and looking out her back window in the snow is. Like no joke, like waist high, like I can see No, that's coming up to her back window. Yeah, she said they just got so much snow like the last week I guess.

And to me it looks really scary 'cause I'm like, how can they even keep the roads clear when there's that much snow? She said they've been out plowing like nonstop. And I was like, do people just get stuck in their houses? That's I wondering. So ignorant. Yeah. I'm like, so do people just get stuck in their houses?

She was like, well it's winter people might be late for work, but that's just how it is. I'm like, wow, [00:02:00] I can't relate. No, not at all. That's wild. Yeah, I was thinking you meant she was snowed in 'cause like. More than an inch and I'd be like, well I can't leave. Right. That's what happens. Exactly. That's crazy.

That is what happened when you got to see a little bit of snow when you went to North Florida. Absolutely. Yeah. You snow. But to be fair, it's 'cause everything froze over and we didn't know you were supposed to like Right. Plow stuff, learn something new every year. Yes. So yeah. So we're almost to the end of February.

I'm excited. It is beautiful weather. I love this time of year. Of course. Like you said, everyone does. I love springtime in Florida and fall time in Florida and then it's just hot. Just miserable all the time. The rest, yeah. We're gonna do something a little different. In a couple weeks we'll still have our regular episode, but we're gonna do like a listener mailbag episode.

We've never done. A full one of these. Uh, so we are looking for any like, hometown stories, like weird things that have happened, not murder, just like weird, you know, a bank robbery where somebody wore something really [00:03:00] crazy and you remember it just like a brief little synopsis. Feel free to put your personality in the story, um, and email it to us at Moms and mysteries@gmail.com and put in the subject line mailbag so we can find it really easy.

We'd like to get those in by March 3rd. And we're gonna be recording and we'll be releasing it on March the sixth. Yeah, super. So I'm super excited about it. That's super too. Super. And we've had a few people that have mentioned that they really miss lasting before we go at the end of the show. So I feel like this is kind of exciting 'cause I, it's not bringing back lasting before we go, but it is bringing back something I feel like that people, uh, have been missing.

So yeah, hopefully we'll get lots of, um, people writing us and giving us their stories. Last thing. Of course, we have Patreon, but also now Apple Podcast subscriptions. And on Spotify you can subscribe and get bonus episodes. We've already recorded three of the episodes for the Sama Hulu documentary. We were both surprised to learn that there is a fourth one when you're hearing it.

We'll be about to release the third, and the fourth [00:04:00] will be just a few days away, so I hope you guys will check that out. All right, so we have a ton to get into with the story this week. This is a wild story really. There's, it needs no introduction. We're just gonna get right to it. John Walton Wallace was born on June 12th, 1896 in Glass, Alabama.

Right from the start, his life was marked by hardship and violence. His father abandoned the family and left his mom mur to raise John and his siblings alone, having nowhere else to go. Murti moved with the kids back to her family home in Merriweather County, Georgia, where she had help from her brothers in raising her children.

But this didn't mean that John was in for a well-rounded upbringing at all. One of John's uncles, John Strickland, was the head of the Strickland clan and known for having a violent temper of his own. He had a temper so ruthless that even his closest friends were scared of him. This was a man that was extremely violent and even shot and killed his own brother.[00:05:00] 

It was said that no one dared to cross John Strickland, and if they did, they didn't live to tell about it. He sounds terrifying, right? This charming man is actually who John Wallace's mom named him after, and this dangerous legacy is what he grew up with. By the time John Wallace was an adult, prohibition was in full swing.

The movement had been picking up steam as religious groups saw alcohol as a threat to American families, and more organizations were pushing for stricter laws. It was 1873 when the Women's Christian Temperance Union started advocating for trafficking alcohol to become illegal, and by 1900, the Anti Saloon League had joined in the effort and began endorsing political candidates and lobbying for anti saloon legislation.

16 years later, nearly half the states had actually adopted this type of legislation, and some had even prohibited the manufacturer of alcohol. But by 1919, they finally got their way. [00:06:00] The 18th Amendment to the Constitution made it officially illegal to manufacture or transport liquor nationwide. However, this certainly did not mean that everyone complied and gave up alcohol for good.

In fact, in the South, prohibition was largely ignored, as many people viewed it as unwanted interference by the federal government smuggling and illegal manufacturer thrived, especially in places that had a major port such as New Orleans Mobile, Alabama, and Miami, Florida. By the end of the 1920s, prohibition was being blamed for the rise of organized crime.

Although Congress had overwhelmingly supported the 18th Amendment, they did nothing to ensure adequate funding for enforcing this new law. Basically, it's great in theory, but it wasn't reality. Bootleggers, gangsters, and corrupt law enforcement thrived in this atmosphere. The Volted Act of 1919 attempted to strengthen the enforcement of prohibition, but there were far too many loopholes that allowed for widespread abuse.

Federal agents had [00:07:00] pretty much limitless authority to raid homes and businesses often without any reason, which led to violent shootouts and unchecked corruption. Frustration with prohibition started to grow and a movement for repeal gained momentum. Many started to believe that the ban on alcohol did infringe on their individual freedoms.

And with the Great Depression causing economic devastation, it seemed like legalizing alcohol would actually provide an opportunity to create jobs and to generate government revenue. In 1933, the 21st Amendment finally brought an in to the national ban on alcohol and prohibition was repealed. As for what all this has to do with John Wallace, nothing.

No, I'm just kidding. But wouldn't that be funny if a lesson,

in fact, it did have to do with him and his mom came from the Strickland family, and as we said before, violence was really just a way of life for [00:08:00] them. They made their money through moonshine, which existed long before prohibition. Moonshine dates back to 1791 when the government established the whiskey tax, which taxed any form of liquor being made in the country.

Distillers in the South were not okay with sharing a cut of their profits with the government. So the making of Moonshine, which is just unaged whiskey, was a sort of cultural heritage among Southerners who simply refused to give up, making and selling it, and took sort of a stick it to the government attitude about it.

According to National Geographic, moonshine embodies a proud cultural heritage of toughness and rebelliousness, and that belief in tradition endured years after Prohibition was repealed. The people who had made a lifestyle of defying the 18th Amendment saw no reason to give up the fight against the government imposing on their way of life.

In other words, fighting the government was the way of life for the Stricklands. The family ran the largest illegal liquor operation in [00:09:00] their part of Merriweather County, which they called the Kingdom. John Wallace and his posse ruled the area with an iron fist. After John's uncle John Strickland passed away, the moonshine business was passed down to him.

John expected blind obedience from those who worked for him, but he could sometimes be nice. His mom used to call him double John because as she put it, he's the best boy and the worst boy I ever saw, and that's on parenting. I love that quote so much actually. So good. So John was the type of guy who really used generosity to gain power.

As we've just said, he's not truly a very generous guy, but if anything was needed for the community, such as new pews for the church, or rebuilding the barn on a farm after it had burned down, John would provide the money for it. But his favors were always meant to be repaid one way or the other. John had so much power around [00:10:00] town that he could literally kill people and get away with it.

One day he actually went to town looking for the sheriff, and when they told John they didn't know where the sheriff was, he said to go find him and tell him to come out to my place right away. I had to kill a man a little while ago, and I want him to come down and take him away. People mostly left John alone because he was insane and they were scared of his rap.

The sheriff generally just did whatever John Wallace told him to do without any question or any hesitation. In addition to the moonshine business, John had large dairy holdings in the county as well. In October of 1929, John and three other men, those men were Mozart, Strickland, Lawrence Dunlap and Cecil Eckerson were sentenced to two years in federal prison for conspiracy to violate prohibition laws.

They were allowed time to gather their crops before being sent to the federal penitentiary in Atlanta in mid-December, and John served his sentence and was released two [00:11:00] years later. In December of 1931, John married a 19-year-old woman named Josephine at the Merriweather White Sulfur Springs Hotel.

Despite the fact that prohibition had been repealed, John stayed heavily involved in the liquor trade, and by February of 1936, he was described as one of the South's largest bootleggers. He and 15 others were eventually indicted on charges of conspiracy to violate federal internal revenue laws. It's alleged that John operated several distilleries in the county and that he was shipping wholesale liquor to Atlanta.

The largest distillery had a capacity of 10,000 gallons per month, which is one of the largest distilleries ever found in the south. John was very wary of law enforcement after already serving time, so he relied on his insiders to tip him off about any impending federal raids. If a raid was suspected, John would shut down all operations, even if that meant taking a financial hit.

By the [00:12:00] 1940s, the federal government was really cracking down more than ever on bootlegging. So John's operation had scaled back quite a bit, but he was still very active. Around 1945, Wallace hired a man named Wilson Turner as a sharecropper on his land. Wilson was actually a bit of an unusual hire for John, who had previously only employed black tenants under the debt slavery system common in the South at the time.

Wilson Turner, though, was a white man, and John later said that he was quote unquote, hesitant to hire him, but nevertheless, he was hired. Turner, his wife, Julie, and their son lived on John's farm in a small house near the swamp. Soon Turner became involved in John's illicit liquor trade, and he was introduced to the still that John operated in the swamp for two years.

Turner helped transport moonshine and made a significant profit. He used this newfound wealth to buy a brand new truck and nice clothes for his family. But [00:13:00] as time went on, Turner became reckless in his desperation to make even more money. In November, John kicked Turner off his property after Turner ran 20 gallons of liquor, but then he refused to hand over the money out of a job and out of a place to stay.

Turner and his young family moved to Carroll County, but Turner wasn't done with John Wallace's moonshine operation. He started sneaking back to the still and stealing liquor to sell for himself, and John was no dummy. He knew exactly what was happening. He knew what was going on and tried to catch Turner in the act, but he was actually never able to.

John knew that Turner was now a liability, and he knew he had to be dealt with permanently. So John took action. He reported Turner to the alcohol tax and claimed he was responsible for this illegal still. Federal agent, Earl Lucas took the case, and even though he knew all about John Wallace and his reputation around town, he played along and [00:14:00] acted like he believed that John was innocent.

Agent Lucas set up a stakeout, but Turner never showed up. He had actually gotten wind that the Feds were called, and so he never returned to the, still the case goes cold, but federal agents kept watching John Wallace and soon John had another reason to go after Turner. John alleged that he had placed 75 cattle on a farm that Turner had been working, and when he returned on March 10th 19, of these cattle were missing friends said that Turner had stolen these cows, including three of his top registered dairy cows worth $1,600.

I didn't do the, I didn't do the conversion to, um, today's money, but I'm guessing $1,600 back then. I mean, gosh, 4 trillion. I know exactly. These were some really expensive cows. I would've actually thought that you could buy a cow today for $1,600. That's how little I know. Same. Me too. Wow. Let's not go in the dairy this week.[00:15:00] 

So John Wallace reached a breaking point with the help of the Carrollton Police. Chief. John tracked one of his own stolen cows to a field and had officers stake it out. Several nights later, Turner showed up and had the cow moved. Turner's brother and another man named Lake Green were caught trying to leave Crawford County with a cow.

They were later released on Bond. Turner tried to flee and he was arrested. He said to the sheriff, get me away, or they will kill me. But he didn't actually elaborate on who he was worried would kill him. He was then taken to the county jail. But then John Wallace called and asked Sheriff Thil to transfer Turner to Merriweather County Jail since that's where the cow had actually been stolen.

The sheriff had no idea what John was up to, but he told him that he would, but he needed a warrant. So John then called the Merriweather County Sheriff Hardy Collier, and asked him to get a warrant and take Turner to the Merriweather jail. So keep in mind, sheriff Collier, [00:16:00] this is the same sheriff from the county that John Wallace rules with an iron fist.

And this is the same sheriff that John really just has in his back pocket. The transfer was arranged and was quickly made in the middle of the night, but this transfer was not immediately documented and Turner wasn't allowed to communicate with anyone either. John Wallace then conspired with Sheriff Collier to release Turner due to a lack of evidence.

On April 20th when that day rolled around, Collier told John when Turner was about to be released and John rounded up three men to go wait for him in town. John was in the car with one of the men while the other two rode in a separate car. The men had already drained Turner's truck of most of its gas, which of course will ensure that he has to stop.

One of these men was a man named Herring. He was a prominent dairy man from Chipley. John Wallace had actually helped Herring get acquitted of murder after killing a man in an argument over a poker game. Another [00:17:00] man, Henry Mobley, worked for John and lived on his farm. Mobley had proven his loyalty to John numerous times, and John felt that he was very trustworthy.

And the third man was John's first cousin, Tom Strickland, who's another member of the Strickland family, who knows nothing but violence. Tom was a farmer in Merriweather County who had once murdered his wife, and John helped him cover it up and got the coroner's jury to rule the death of suicide. I get the impression that murders were a lot more common.

Maybe I, I mean actually, definitely. 'cause it just seems like, it's like I killed somebody. I need the sheriff to move the body. What? Right. I don't, it doesn't. It does not click right. Everyone here knows right. Has murdered somebody yet, none of these people are in jail, right? I don't get it. So when Wilson Turner was released from jail, he raced out of town in his truck going north on Highway 41 with John chasing after him in Herring's car for about 17 miles.

And at that point, Turner pulled up to the Sunset [00:18:00] Tourist Court in Coweta County, which is just over the line from Merriweather County. Turner jumped out of his truck and started screaming for help as John and Herring pulled in behind him. The two men in the other vehicle actually turned around and headed back toward Greenville to wait for John to return.

According to witnesses, it was about 12:30 AM when Turner jumped out of his truck and ran towards the front door of the building, yelling for help. The owner, Steve Smith, saw Turner trying to enter the building when John and Herring caught up to him. John immediately started assaulting Turner. He was hitting him repeatedly while dragging him away from the front entrance towards the side of the building.

Steve Smith was concerned about the brutality of the beating, and he suggested that maybe John should handcuff Turner instead. But Herring responded that Turner was a dangerous man, wanted for murder, implying that the extreme use of force was necessary. The men tried to force Turner into the car, but he resisted so [00:19:00] John struck him in the head forcefully with a shotgun.

Witnesses, as many as 10 people in total said that Turner had been screaming for help until the moment that John hit him with a weapon. Weapon. When the gun struck Turner's head, it discharged and he collapsed into the car, apparently unconscious. Even though Turner was incapacitated, John continued beating him with an unknown object while he was limp and his feet were dangling outside the car.

Eventually John and Herring shoved Turner completely inside another witness named Merle Hannah corroborated this account, and at least seven other witnesses provided similar accounts of Turner's desperate attempt to escape that ended in being relentlessly assaulted to the point of unconsciousness before being forced into a car.

Witnesses saw John continuing the attack as the car drove off in the same direction that it came from, and no one ever saw Wilson Turner alive again. And we still have so, so much more to get [00:20:00] into after a quick break year work from this week's sponsors. And now back to the episode. Before the break, we were getting into the story of John Wallace, who back in the 1930s and forties really ruled Coweta County, Georgia with an iron fist by all accounts.

I actually just had a flashback to our very first episode of Moms, and remembering that we said by all accounts about 25 times. Oh my gosh. Yeah, we almost canceled ourself for that. It was annoying. We did. So there are witnesses who are reporting that the last thing that they saw is John Wallace assaulting and kidnapping Wilson Turner.

Those who witnessed the attack called Coweta Sheriff Potts to report what had just happened and gave the license plate number for hearing civil's car. They identified who Turner was by the plates on his truck, and after hearing about what happened, they were pretty sure he was dead. Sheriff Potts put a warrant out against John and Herring, and they were charged with kidnapping and murder.[00:21:00] 

Sheriff Pots had been on the job for 12 years and he was considered a man of integrity who would work as long and as hard as necessary to break a case. He was extremely determined and a very popular officer. Unfortunately for John Wallace, he had beaten and kidnapped a man just over the county line, and John had no power there.

It was in Merriweather County that he had all of his buddies. But sheriff pots from Coweta County couldn't care less about John's reputation. Despite search efforts by state troopers, GBI agents and the Coweta County Sheriff's Department, Turner was nowhere to be found. On April 23rd, John Wallace and Herrings walked into the Coweta County Sheriff's Office and simply surrendered.

They were very calm and collected as they handed themselves over, like there was just nothing to worry about at all. Sheriff Pots booked them into the Coweta County Jail where they were held without bond. [00:22:00] Though the charges were very serious. Neither of the men seemed phased. They stuck to their story, which was that they had no idea where Turner was or what happened to him.

They basically said they were just two innocent men who were caught in a big misunderstanding. My gosh. Merryweather Sheriff Collier pushed back against rumors that started to swirl around town that suggested that he, that John Wallace would be waiting outside the jail to catch Turner when he was released.

Furthermore, he claimed that he was actually eating a meal with John Wallace at the time. The murderer allegedly took place. But did anyone believe Sheriff Collier? Who knows? He had already been under scrutiny, so it's hard to say. But while John and Herring sat in jail, investigators tore their lives apart.

They searched Herring's car and found traces of blood on the floor and the seat, despite the inside having been cleaned. Inside John's home, they found bloodstain clothing, which he claimed was from a scratch on his hand, but an expert in forensic chemistry. Dr. [00:23:00] Jones said that the amount of blood was far too much for a simple scratch.

Sheriff Pots was determined that this case wasn't just swept under the rug like so many others before it. Every piece of evidence, no matter how tiny was carefully collected and preserved. Dr. Jones later said that this was the most thorough forensic investigation he had ever seen, and that the way Sheriff Pots handled the crime scene ensured that there would be proof to back up the claim that Wilson Turner was murdered.

John Wallace had spent his whole life controlling others through fear, but this time things were different. For the first time, he wasn't the one holding all the power. As a search for Turner intensified, sheriff Pots put $500 of his own money towards a reward for information leading to his whereabouts.

The offer sparked a flood of tips that really got the ball rolling. Earl Lucas, who was a federal revenue officer, said that John had hired him to search the farm for Whiskey Stills as he suspected that Turner [00:24:00] was making whiskey there. Back in October of 1947, John Wallace told Earl Lucas that Turner was causing him a lot of worry because he was making whiskey all over the farm and refusing to listen to him.

John admitted that he thought about killing Turner several times, but he held back because he said that Turner's wife, this could be one of my favorite things that I've ever read because I relate so much. He refused. He didn't wanna kill him because he said Turner's wife looked so pitiful as she was pregnant and caring for an 18 month old.

And I just say, who amongst us doesn't Right? So John claimed that Turner was the one running a moonshine operation and that was putting him at risk. John had already served time in prison and he didn't wanna go back because of someone else's illegal liquor. John also complained that Turner was a bad influence on the black farmers that worked on the land.

Investigators were skeptical that John's real issue was the whiskey [00:25:00] itself and that this whole thing was really just about control. Some even said that Turner was planning to kill John after he had started stealing liquor from him. Federal agents were already watching the farm, and rumor was the feud between Turner and Wallace had reached a breaking point.

Another tip came from a young black service station worker named Charles Hixson, who said he was hired to clean the car on April 23rd. He said that he washed blood from the floor of the backseat. By April 27th, sheriff Pots had grown tired of waiting for answers, so he got on the radio and called on volunteers to help search John's farm in what he was calling a fine combed effort to find Turner.

Later that day, Henry Mobley and another man were arrested and charged with kidnapping and murder. After it was learned that they had joined in the chase after Turner on the night he disappeared. The next morning, 200 volunteers, including members of Turner's family, showed up to help in an all day search for any sign of him.

They dragged Quarry [00:26:00] Lake and searched Carrollton, checked in abandoned wells and sawdust piles, as well as in dense briar patches that lined the streams. They also dragged the swamp that bordered the large artificial lake below the barns and outbuildings on Wallace's farm. The search turned up absolutely nothing.

Then on April 30th, sheriff Pots announced the arrest of John's cousin Tom Strickland. He was charged as an accomplice, but that was an all The Sheriff also announced that both Tom Strickland and Herring had signed confessions. So according to Herring's confession, he and John continued beating Turner after forcing him into the car that night, and John didn't let up as they drove off.

On a dark stretch of the Noonan Greenville Road. The car had a tire blowout and they had to stop. Where they stopped was near Turner's old house on John's farm. At that point, Henry Mobley and Tom Strickland pulled up and John wasted no time pulling [00:27:00] Turner from Herring's car and moving him into the other car.

But at that point, they weren't even really sure if Turner was still alive. Tom Strickland got behind the wheel and drove to a secluded spot near Turner's house where John got out and took Turner with him. The police found blood in Tom's car to confirm the story. Both of these men ended up recanting their confessions, though after speaking with attorneys, the other two men who were arrested maintained that they did not know anything about any of it.

Investigators now believed that Turner may have been murdered because he knew too much about the operation of an illegal liquor ring. Turner's wife confirmed that the feud between John and her husband had started over 20 gallons of whiskey that Turner refused to hand over the money for. At this point, investigators were desperate to locate Turner's body.

The associated press reported that state law required proof of Corpus delicti for prosecution. Meanwhile, two black men that lived on John's farm were held for questioning in regards to [00:28:00] being accessories. The two men, Robert Lee Gates and Albert Brooks told investigators what they knew. Robert Lee Gates said that he had lived on the farm doing work for John Wallace.

He said that on April 21st, John came to Robert's home in a pickup truck with Albert Brooks by his side. The truck was full of cord, wood and gasoline, and John told Robert to grab his hat and to come along that John needed help with something. The three men then drove by the swamp and unloaded the wood and the gasoline.

Afterwards, John ordered the men to saddle up some horses and meet him at a specific spot near the pasture fence. When they got there, John said that they were going to look for a package that was hidden in a well. They searched for hours, but ended up finding nothing, and at about 3:00 AM John gave up and said they would try again.

After the sun came up the next morning, John got clarification on the location of a different well and decided to go there again with Robert and Albert. When they [00:29:00] found the, well, Robert noticed something sinister. There was blood around the well and also on a pole that was lying across it. According to Robert, they were then ordered to get the ropes and the well drags so they could get this package out of there.

But of course, the package that John was referring to was actually the body of Wilson Turner. The men lowered the grab hooks into the well until it latched onto something solid, and then John tossed the rope around until it was tightened around one of Turner's legs. Then they pulled the body out. When Robert Gates saw Turner's body, he was stunned.

He had known Turner for two years, but now he looked unrecognizable. Robert said the back of Turner's head looked like it may have been knocked off, but said he also didn't look too hard at it. John ordered the farm hands to wrap up the body, and then they secured it on a pole and carried it for half a mile.

The men laid the body down and covered it with [00:30:00] brush while they went back to John's house to get the horses. When they returned, they tied Turner's body onto a horse and took it near the spot where they had left the wood and gasoline. The night before John ordered Robert and Albert to stack the wood in a pit, and when it was nearly full, he told them to go and get Turner's body.

They placed Turner's body on the wood pile, and then John doused it with 10 gallons of gasoline and set it ablaze. The fire was massive. It actually shot up into the trees while the men just stood there watching it burn. They stayed for about 30 minutes before finally leaving the scene, but the job still wasn't finished.

The next morning, John sent the men back to the burn pile with shovels and sacks and told them to collect anything that remained of Turner's body, including the ashes, the bones, everything. So the men did as they were told, and carried these sacks full of ash and remains down to the creek and emptied them into the water.

Albert Brooks confirmed everything [00:31:00] Robert told the police and gave the same details. In his version of the story, investigators used the confessions of these two men to scour the Wallace farm and locate any evidence to back up their claims on May 3rd. They actually found the, well, it was an old and nearly dry 20 foot hole at an abandoned farmhouse hidden far from any public road.

The search of this well revealed blood, brain, tissue, and skin, and it was learned that a 50 pound rock had been shoved on top of Turner's body to keep it hidden. Even after they had removed the body, there were still pieces of bone and flesh left behind in the well. Investigators believed that Turner's body was in the well for a couple of days before it was transported to a heavily wooded swamp area on John's land where they ultimately burned the body.

There were clear signs of destruction at the burn site. Trees around the pit were scorched as high as 60 feet, and on the ground there were shrubs and grass that had been singed from up to 40 feet away. Turner's body had been [00:32:00] reduced to ash and fragments of bone that were small enough to fit inside of a matchbox.

Investigators found a bloodstained pole with cords still attached to it near the burn pit, and a five gallon gasoline drum sitting nearby as well. They also found a knife and an ax, and then there was the letter. Turner had written a letter on three cigarette papers. It was addressed as someone named James and signed by Turner, but the letter was never sent.

In the letter Turner was asking James to go to Carrollton and give his wife money to hire a lawyer to fight the cattle theft charges that led to his arrest. They believe that this letter fell out of Turner's pocket when he was being pulled from the Well. Unfortunately, though, the state couldn't prove that it was Turner's handwriting, but all the small details added up.

Dr. Herman Jones, the chief of Fulton County's crime lab, analyzed the remains and confirmed the worst. The bone fragments were human. The ashes were [00:33:00] also human, and the brain and blood tissue found in the well matched Turner's blood type. I'm still amazed that they were able to even confirm that much like Me too.

Yeah. Yeah. I guess I shouldn't be like that, but it does seem like a lot of more forensics were going on than I realized. Turner had been beaten, thrown into a well, crushed under a rock, left there for days, and then burned in a fire. So intense. It almost erased every trace of him. The shocking twist continued to unfold on May 4th, 78-year-old Mozart Strickland was arrested for being an accessory after the fact, investigators found out that his truck was used in the disposal of Turner's body and that he provided John with a fresh set of clothes after Tom Strickland told his uncle that John was too bloody to go home.

Mozart was baffled by his arrest and he insisted that he did nothing wrong. He even boasted about his personal friendship with the late Franklin Delano Roosevelt, but [00:34:00] that did little to sway the investigators. I still just can't get over that. These people back then like literally just thought nothing of things like murder and like they just didn't seem to think that it was a big deal.

Like any of this. That's, I don't understand. I'm surprised they're not asking for whose murder because they've like all killed like so many people that they're like, which one is this? Okay. All right. I'll go. Very strange. So meanwhile, Henry Mobley, that's one of the other men who was jailed also seemed unfazed by the situation.

When the same reporter visited him, Mobley was just lounging in his pajamas and said he was just catching up on his rest. He did not seem very concerned about the murder investigation that was going on around him. By May 7th, investigators had uncovered something that shook the case to its core. They believed that the man they thought was Wilson Turner.

The victim was actually someone named William Hardin Turner Wilson was just an alias he took on after dodging the war. [00:35:00] The real Turner was born on June 13th, 1922 in Crawford, Georgia, and he was raised with 11 siblings, six boys and six girls. In total, though, one of his siblings died as an infant. His father was a farmer like many of the young men at that time.

In October of 1942, Turner had enlisted in the military during World War ii, but he was far from being the perfect soldier. He first deserted the military in 1942 when he fled home and stole his older brother's draft card that would be Wilson, and then assumed his identity from that moment on, he lived as Wilson Turner, a man who according to official records, had never gone to war.

The truth about Turner's identity surfaced when his brother Wilson, the real Wilson, read an article in the paper about his own death. So he like, yeah, so he contacted the Atlantic Constitution to set the record straight. He said he had no connection to John Wallace and had never [00:36:00] known that the cow he transported was stolen.

He said that his brother told him the cow was given to him as payment for a debt, and simply asked Wilson to hold onto it for a little while. When Turner's wife Julie learned the truth about his identity, she was shocked. But in hindsight, she actually thought it made sense of a lot of his mysterious behaviors.

She didn't realize at the time, but Turner had insisted on naming their son, John William, and she didn't really know or understand where the name William came from or why he was so insistent on it. But now it made sense after she found out that his real name was William and not Wilson. Julie also said that her husband never talked to her about his past in the Army and said he had no living relatives.

The only clue was that one time in passing, he made a comment that if anything were to happen, she should get in touch with his sister in Macon. And it was only after Turner disappeared that his sister came forward and told Julie the truth. That's wild to say. Like you don't have any living relatives and meanwhile you have [00:37:00] like literally your family has a dozen 12 kids.

Yeah. Like I don't, how do you say? I mean, no, that I don't understand any of that. And then also like, did he not see his brother for years Wilson, and then all of a sudden he shows up and is like, hold onto this cow for me. Right. And then those questions, many questions. Great. Right? Yeah. More questions than answers for sure.

So the case against John and his accomplices escalated quickly with new revelations, tying them deeper into a web of crime and corruption. On May 8th, federal Reserve agents issued warrants for John Wallace and 10 other men who were all charged with a conspiracy to violate the internal revenue law. The authorities had already been suspicious that John was involved in a massive liquor ring and had been looking into it for about six months, but their search of his property in the hunt for Turner ended up leading to a wealth of new evidence.

Among those named in federal investigation were former Merriweather County Deputy Sheriff Cecil Eckerson, the two farmhands, [00:38:00] Robert and Albert, William Turner, and Tommy Windham, who was Julie Turner's own brother. On May 31st, a grand jury convened to decide who should be held accountable for Turner's death.

They deliberated for just two hours before they returned eight indictments against eight men, John Wallace Herrings, Henry Mobley, Tom Strickland, Robert Gates and Albert Brooks were all indicted for murder. Sheriff Collier was actually charged as an accessory before the fact and Mozart Strickland was charged as an accessory after the fact.

Sheriff Pots emphasized that he had an abundance of physical proof, more than enough to secure a conviction. Some key pieces of evidence included the bloodstains on John's shirt and pants, which was confirmed to be human blood, as well as the brain matter blood and human hair that was found at the bottom of the well.

Additionally, John's ax blade had cutting marks that matched the pole that they used to transport Turner's body. [00:39:00] There were human bloodstains that were found in civil's car and human bone fragments found at the burn site. John's trial was set for June 14th, which seemed like an insanely quick turnaround time, but Sheriff Pot said that's because they had an airtight case.

John Wallace, who was once a powerful and feared figure in Merriweather County, was now facing the full force of the law, and it seemed inevitable that his trial would end with a conviction. The stage was set for one of Georgia's most explosive murder trials in history, and we still have more to get into after a quick break to hear where from this week's sponsors.

And now back to the episode. Before the break, we were discussing the kidnapping and murder of Wilson Turner with key figures, including John Wallace Herring, civil and Other accomplices. Despite his initial denials, investigators uncovered critical evidence including bloodstains confessions and connections to an illegal liquor operation, and this led to multiple arrests and an intent search for [00:40:00] Turner's body, which was eventually found and confirmed to have been very brutally disposed of.

John Wallace's trial began on June 14th, 1948, less than one month after Turner's death. It was held in Coweta County with Judge Samuel j Boykin. Presiding John was the first to stand trial, and the jury was composed of 12 white men, eight of whom were farmers. The prosecution was led by District Attorney Cecil Pruitt, and assisted by Meyer Goldberg, who was a special prosecutor that was retained by Turner's family for the first time in Georgia.

Criminal court history, color motion pictures were introduced as evidence. I thought that was really interesting. Yeah. The films were taken by the Fulton County Crime Lab technician, George Cornett, who testified that these films provided an accurate visual depiction of the crime scene. The trial drew massive crowds and the courtroom was packed with spectators.

By day three things had really reached a fever pitch, and local businesses and downtown [00:41:00] offices were even closing their doors. At noon, there were boys who would arrive early just to get seats in the courtroom so they could sell them later for one to $5. The defense accused prosecutors of turning the trial into a Hollywood spectacle and argued that the eyewitness testimony and the forensic evidence had been tainted by prejudice.

Robert Lee Gates and Albert Brooks testified against John, which at this time in history was a very big deal because both of these men were black. They told the same story about finding Turner's body in the well and using poles, hooks, and rope to take his body from the well to the burn pit. Brooks testified that about 30 minutes after lighting the fire, John told the two men to quote, go ahead now and get to planting cotton.

I've got to go to Noonan. The farm hands testified that they later spread three sacks full of ashes into a nearby creek. The defense's strategy hinged on the issue of jurisdiction. They argued that Turner was accidentally [00:42:00] killed on Wallace's farm in Merriweather County, meaning that Cota County had no authority to prosecute the case at all.

And if the jury agreed with this, they'd have no other option than to acquit John, though he could still be tried in Merriweather at a later time. The judge ruled that the jury must determine where the murder occurred in Coweta or Merriweather. If Turner had been fatally wounded in Coweta, then John could be tried and convicted there.

But if the fatal injuries were inflicted in Merriweather, then Coweta had no jurisdiction and John could go free. The jury was also told to consider whether they believe that Turner's death was an accident and whether John deserved the death penalty life in prison or an acquittal. Defense attorneys worked to cast doubt on the prosecution's alleged timeline, and their forensic evidence implied that Turner's injuries were not inflicted intentionally and that the state did not have anything to prove where he actually died.

John took [00:43:00] to the stand in his own defense, he gave seven hours of unsworn testimony, which surprised it's a lot of talking was ever recorded in the Coweta County circuit in 56 years for the first five and a half hours, he recounted his whole relationship with Turner being careful to avoid the details of the night that he was murdered.

John was calm and he was measured. He spoke deliberately and used long pauses for emphasis. Oh my gosh. I would not be able to stand listening to that. I hate when people use seven hours long pauses for emphasis. I know, and especially when you're like, buddy, you just, you still have more to say, you got it.

We're gonna have to rush. So by the end of his testimony, he was horse and he was sweating. Why was he sweating? Because he's probably up there lying. I'm sure it got, he got tired. So John testified that he discovered that Turner was making illegal liquor on his farm. So he reported him to federal officials, which then resulted in Turner [00:44:00] being fined.

But despite multiple warnings, Turner continued this illegal operation. John claimed that he urged Turner to stop and said he was trying to steer him onto the straight and narrow path. But Turner was just being obstinate. John was trying to make him on the straight and narrow path that is, that's where I would've started laughing as a juror.

Yeah. John also claimed that Turner had been negatively influencing his farmhand and stealing cattle from him, and he explained that over time several cows had gone missing from the farm and the neighbor suggested that it was Turner who was behind it one day. John said he noticed that one of his prized cows, that's the one that's worth over $1,600, was in Turner's possession.

So he reported the theft and Turner was arrested and he did admit to stealing the cows. Unfortunately, the police were unable to recover the other stolen cattle because Turner refused to cooperate. John talked about his frustration with law enforcement for not being willing to pursue Turner [00:45:00] any further about these thefts.

The sheriff had suggested that John should pursue prosecution in Carroll County, but John was discouraged by that. He said that he planned to talk with the Merriweather County Sheriff the following morning to decide how to proceed with his case against Turner. Of course, John's like, I don't wanna talk to some sheriff that like isn't gonna do what I say.

I wanna talk to the sheriff here in my county. Right? So John's testimony painted him as being a law abiding citizen that was just fed up with this repeat offender that kept stealing from him, was defying the law and posing a threat to John's safety. His testimony did little to counteract the physical evidence and the eyewitness accounts presented by prosecutors, though.

As for the night of the murder, John told the jury that he, along with Tom Strickland, herring Civil, and Henry Mobley, went to the Merriweather County Jail to see Turner. He said he just wanted to speak to him outside of the jail, but he did admit to bringing along a shotgun, though he claims that he had no [00:46:00] intention of killing anyone.

The quote he said was. I didn't leave home with murder in my heart because it was already there. John said that when they got to the jail, Turner had actually already been released, and so as they were leaving, they spotted him driving a truck and John told Herring to follow it. Eventually, they cornered Turner at the Sunset Tourist Camp.

John outlined the ensuing fight with Turner and how he attempted to enter the cafe, and John grabbed him at the door. He admitted to forcing Turner into the back of their car and said that in the chaos of all this struggle, the shotgun that he was holding accidentally struck Turner's ear, which caused him to bleed.

But John said it was not that serious. He said that while he was pushing Turner into the car, the barrel of the shotgun hit the top of the car, and that caused the gun to go off. But he insisted that he did not hit Turner with the gun. Inside the car. John held his hand over Turner's mouth to keep him from screaming, but he insisted that Turner was [00:47:00] still conscious and able to walk at that point.

He said that he was even able to get up and switch cars when they got a flat tire up the road. John alleged that Turner was talking with them and smoking cigarettes along this ride. John explained that he just wanted Turner to confess about these stolen cattle, so he drove Turner to the area where his first cows disappeared from in hopes that Turner would come clean.

Then John and Tom Strickland led Turner into the woods near an old well. He said he didn't know where he was even going or what developments were coming up. When they got to the, well, John walked around it and looked down into it. Then he looked at Turner. He alleged that Turner, I can't even get through this sentence because it makes no sense.

Turner has this idea that John puts him in the well and leaves him there for a few hours, then Turner would move back down and help John find his cows. In what world would you ever say, put me in a, well, I'll stay here. Come back from this [00:48:00] later. I believe you. I don't believe that. No. So John said he didn't know why Turner said that as even John, because it makes no sense.

Yeah, exactly. And he said that, you know, he wasn't even thinking about putting him in the well. He was just quietly observing the area around them. John said that he was standing about five feet away from Turner when he heard someone yell from off in the distance near the railroad tracks. When he turned his head towards the noise, he shifted his shotgun from his right hand to the crook of his left arm, and at that moment, the gun accidentally fired.

They need to do something about that. I feel like that shotgun accidentally fires an awful lot. I agree. So he said he wasn't looking in Turner's direction when the gum went off, but when he looked over, he saw Turner lying on the ground with the top of his scalp torn off from the blast. So John said that he blinked in that moment and that his mind was blank for several days after that.

This version of events was made to sound like Turner was killed in an [00:49:00] accident and to portray John as a man who just wanted a confession from another man. But unfortunately, it all ended in a tragic accident. But John's version of events conflicted with the physical evidence and with what eyewitnesses had said, which made it difficult for the jury to believe John's story.

He made a plea to the jury to understand his position as a hardworking farmer who struggled for two years as Turner terrorized him as a cattle thief. He said he was just an average churchgoing man who definitely didn't intend to murder Turner. Prosecutors called multiple witnesses to discredit and refute John's version of events.

One of the most damning testimonies came from Robert Gates, who directly contradicted John's claim that he had been trying to stop illegal moonshine operations because Gates testified that it was John who was running the illegal moonshine operations, not Turner. Kate said that John had paid him $20 per batch to make moonshine, and that he [00:50:00] produced a hundred to 150 gallons per week.

During the cross-examination, the prosecutor heavily challenged John's testimony. They had an expert witness, Dr. Tribble testify about the fatal injuries that Turner sustained. It was Dr. Tribble's opinion that if a man the size of John were to strike another man in the back of the head with a shotgun using all of his force, the blow could cause fatal head trauma.

This supported the prosecution's theory that John intentionally struck Turner with enough force to kill him. One of the most talked about witnesses was May Haley Lancaster, who was a local fortune teller. She was also a folk lawyer, which I'm not even sure, um, what that means. Um, and a self-proclaimed legal expert, I guess that goes along with folk lawyer.

It makes sense. Yeah. But she was a very well known figure in Georgia and her involvement kind of added a flare of mystery to the trial. There's already a lot of mystery going on here, but [00:51:00] definitely this adds some more. The Atlanta Constitution described May Haley's appearance as quote. An aging country woman with one good eye, a flower bedecked beanie that kept skidding down over her left ear.

I feel like I have a bit, an image. I mean, it paints a picture. Yeah. Yes. I would not want them to describe me. No. Anyway. No. Finally, on June 18th, 1948, it was time for the jury to deliberate and come to a verdict. After discussing the case for just over an hour, the jury had already made up their mind. They returned with a verdict of guilty.

John Wallace was asked if he had anything to say before he was sentenced, and he replied, not just now. This is a serious time, maybe later. Wouldn't this be the time? Maybe the last time you could say something after those seven hours. That's wild. Yeah, yeah. Wild. He needed time to think about what just happened.

Judge Boykin ended up sentencing John to death by electric [00:52:00] chair with an execution date of July 30th, 1948, which. It's like no time at all. This has actually come up in other episodes that we've done with these super old cases, but I think it's crazy how fast they would execute people back then. Like you would get convicted and like in this case, he was scheduled for execution five weeks later.

Like to me, that is mind blowing because now people live years on death row and have a lot of chances to appeal. And you have like, and as we'll see as this goes on, John did have his, you know, chances to do that. But it seems like everything was so much more fast tracked back then than what it is now.

Yeah. So the very next day, John filed for his sentence to be commuted to life in prison, which automatically put a stay on his death sentence. So now that John had been convicted, the attention then turned to his co-defendants. A joint trial was scheduled for Tom Strickland, herring Civil, and Henry Mobley for June 21st with plans for the same judge to preside over their trials as well.

However, this [00:53:00] trial never happened on the date it was supposed to start. The men agreed to plead guilty on the condition that they be spared from the death penalty. Each of them was sentenced to life in prison with eligibility for parole after seven years, and none of them chose to make a statement.

Turner's wife, Julie told the media, I think justice has been done, but I wish they make them tell what they had to do with it. Trials for Robert Gates and Albert Brooks were postponed and charges would later be dropped on July 12th, 1948, just weeks after John's trial concluded, sheriff Collier died unexpectedly at the age of 64.

He was out on bond when he had a heart attack while attempting to make an arrest. Meanwhile, the Georgia Supreme Court upheld John Wallace's conviction and death sentence, and he turned to the state, pardon and parole board for help. He pleaded for his sentence to be commuted to life in prison. On February 24th, 1949, the board held a clemency hearing [00:54:00] where 75 of John's friends and supporters gathered to basically beg for his life, but their efforts failed.

On April 18th, the board officially denied John's request and ruled that the murder was premeditated and not accidental like John claimed. They found no mitigating circumstances to justify leniency, and said that John had competent legal counsel and had not been denied any of his constitutional rights.

At this point, John was left with very few options, so he files an audacious request for an entirely new trial. He claimed that one of the jurors in his trial had allegedly commented beforehand that Wallace deserved the electric chair. So they made this comment before the trial had even started, and he also said that his alleged accomplices were willing to testify that Turner was alive in Merriweather County several hours after the time that prosecution claimed he had been murdered in Coweta County.

But despite these [00:55:00] claims, the Georgia Supreme Court denied the request for a new trial as his last resort. John filed a writ of habeas corpus claiming that his trial was unfair due to perjure testimony and intense public pressure. He claimed that Sheriff Pots had kept Robert Gates and Albert Brooks isolated and without outside contact until they testified against him.

John claimed the two men were coerced into waiving their constitutional immunity and forced to lie on the stand due to threats of violence. He claimed that Sheriff Pots had actively inflamed the public opinion and even offered $500 of his own money as a reward for testimony against John. And furthermore, he said the other co-defendants were willing to testify that Turner wasn't even killed in Coweta County.

Lastly, John said that suppressing this testimony violated his rights. At the hearing, multiple witnesses supported John's claims. His co-defendants testified that they had only pleaded guilty because they were afraid of getting the electric chair, [00:56:00] that they insisted that they were not directly threatened and that they merely followed their attorney's advice to take a plea deal.

Tubman testified that they overheard Robert and Albert admit to lying about helping John by Turner's body and said they did that under threats from Sheriff Pots and his 200 man mob. One inmate said he overheard the two men saying they were forced to lie by men who had a rope and threatened to hang them.

Another prisoner claimed that Robert himself went to John's jail window and said he wished they were all still living on John's farm. But in the end, Robert and Albert reaffirmed their original testimony and stated that they helped move Turner's body from a well under Wallace's orders and that they burned the remains and scattered the ashes in a creek.

On October 3rd, the Fulton County Superior Court denied John's writ of habeas corpus and ruled that the trial court was fair and just, but they granted a stay of execution. That allowed John to appeal the decision to the Georgia Supreme [00:57:00] Court once more In February of 1950, the Georgia Supreme Court upheld the lower court's decision, but he appealed the ruling again knowing that he could still turn to the US Supreme Court if the Georgia Courts failed him.

So after the ruling, John told the Atlanta Constitution that he was confident he would not be executed. He said he wasn't going to die for a murder he didn't commit. He acknowledged that his appeal to the Supreme Court may be his last chance, but said he didn't think he'd need it. He brought up that famous psychic who testified at his trial who said that John would live to be 88 years old.

So well, there you go. Case closed. Yeah. In March of 1950, the Georgia Supreme Court refused to reconsider John's case, leaving him no choice but to appeal to the US Supreme Court. Unfortunately, for John, in October of 1950, the US Supreme Court declined to hear his case and his fate was sealed. John was scheduled to be executed [00:58:00] less than a month.

Later on November 3rd, John did make one final and desperate attempt at sparing his life with a petition to the state pardon and parole board once again begging for his sentence to be commuted to life in prison. His legal team claimed that they had had new witnesses that allegedly saw Turner's murder in Merriweather County, which would allegedly prove that Coweta County didn't have jurisdiction over the case and that it should be thrown out.

However, that witness never showed up to the hearing. Dozens of John's supporters did show up to the hearing to testify to his good character and to plead for his mercy, but the board rejected the request and left John with no more legal options. On November 2nd, the day before his execution, the prison warden described John's demeanor as being remarkably composed.

He said that John was spending his final moments in the best spirits out of anyone he'd ever seen in a similar situation. He spent the day visiting with his wife, Josephine and some of his [00:59:00] close friends, even though he knew his execution was imminent. John remained calm on the morning of November 3rd.

Josephine visited with John one last time. In an unprecedented move. John was allowed to hold a press conference just two hours before being executed, and he used this opportunity to repeat the same defense that he had been maintaining throughout his trial. Even in his final moments, John insisted that Turner's death was an accident and not a murder.

At 10:36 AM John walked calmly and without any hesitation into the death chamber where he knelt before the electric chair and prayed out loud asking for mercy, but he was not asking for mercy for himself. He was asking for mercy for the governor and the parole board who had denied his plea for clemency twice.

Then John sat in the electric chair as the prison chaplain held his hand in recited verses from the Bible. [01:00:00] John's last words were simple. He said, goodbye men. I love everybody. I know I'm on my way to heaven. At 10:43 AM the electric chair was activated and six minutes later at 10:49 AM John Wallace was pronounced dead at the age of 54.

In 19 51, 2 of John's co-defendants Herring and Henry petitioned the state pardon and parole board for clemency for themselves. They brought up how before John was executed, he had said that his co-defendants had no part in what happened. He took full responsibility for the crime, so they're saying, he said that it was all him, so we want clemency, but both men were denied their opportunity for clemency and all three of the co-defendants ended up getting paroled in 1955 after they served their minimum of seven years.

In 1973, Margaret Ann Barnes published a book called Murder in Coweta County that detailed the infamous case in trial. The book earned [01:01:00] critical acclaim and became an instant classic. It earned the Edgar Allen Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America for its exceptional depiction of true crime. The book cemented Sheriff Pott's legacy as a force for justice and painted John Wallace as a figure of both infamy and legend in Georgia history.

Then in 1983, a made for TV movie titled Murder in Coweta County was released. The movie starred Andy Griffith as John Wallace, Johnny Cash as Sheriff Lamar Pots and June Carter Cash as the eccentric psychic May Haley Lancaster Johnny Cash, who was a lifelong admirer of justice and law enforcement, was fascinated by Sheriff pots and he immediately sought to acquire the rights to the film.

But Sheriff Pot's son was worried about how his father would be portrayed, and he actually wrote a letter about his concerns to Johnny Cash. And Johnny Cash responded sincerely and promised to collaborate with him to ensure that this portrayal [01:02:00] was accurate. As a token of his trust, Lamar Potts gave Johnny Cash his father's pistol as a gift.

Freaking love this whole part. Like I, me too, want to go watch this movie. Now I have never heard of it, didn't know it existed. But when I got to this part and found out like who the cast was, I was like, wow, I actually wanna go watch that. When I tell you that when I visit my parents, the only show my dad plays is the Andy, Andy Griffith show.

I'm not even kind of kidding. So I can't believe I haven't been made to see this before, right? So, uh, yeah, I wanna watch it too. So Lamar Pot spoke to the Columbia Star about his father's unique traits. He said, quote, I knew things about my daddy that no one else could have known. Like he always whistled a tune called Maggie and chewed on the tip of his thumb.

He was very observant. If he saw someone that had a need, he would find a way to help them. Quote Johnny Cash incorporated the whistling, quirk into his performance, but he also added a little of his own fluff. For example, the real share of pots [01:03:00] rarely carried a gun. Johnny Cash carried one constantly in the film for an added dramatic effect.

Sadly, sheriff Pots passed away in 1971 before he got to see his legacy portrayed on the small screen, but he left behind a remarkable record. When he retired, there were zero unsolved felony cases in Cowie to county. That's pretty impressive. More than 60 years after John's execution, a five mile stretch of paved road that winds through the rural field of Merriweather County was named John Wallace Road.

Even though he was convicted and executed, his reputation in his home county was still very complex with many still speaking of him with respect and viewing him as a product of a bygone era, he was a man who had incredible power in rural Georgia until he didn't. But 60 years later, he was still respected the Strickland family, descendants of John's mother's side still live on the old Wallace Farm.

Wow. [01:04:00] That's honestly all I can say. I mean, really, um, wow, this was such a ride from beginning to end just learning how things were done so differently. But also like hearing this very small town, Georgia, the cops in the pocket of, you know, this one guy, but then you have this other officer who's like, not in my county.

You can see how this was perfect. You can see how they easily made this into a movie. Absolutely. I cannot wait to watch it. Um, I think it'll be really great if you have watched it, let us know. Let us know your thoughts. Uh, we post on Instagram and. About Instagram, Facebook, that's about it these days. But yeah, and you can comment and let us know your thoughts on it.

But yeah, this was a really interesting story. Yeah, and just, I just wanted to give a quick shout out to Hayley, uh, who researched this case. There was so much research in this one. She did such an incredible job. She always does. But this one was a really big one, and she just did so well with keeping all of it neat and organized and made it easy for us.

[01:05:00] So thank you, Haley, and thank you everybody for listening. We will be back next week, same time, same place. New story. Have a great week. Bye.