Prime Crime: Solved Murders - Solved or Unsolved? The Death of Danny Hansford Pt. 1

Episode Date: July 19, 2022

In May of 1981, shots rang out at a mansion known as the Mercer House. When officers arrived, a young man was dead. The estate’s lone resident, a 50-year-old antique dealer, claimed self-defense. But to investigators, the crime scene told a different story. This is a crossover series with Unsolved Murders, looking at two complicated cases where the conclusions are far from forgone. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi, Parcast listeners. It's Vanessa with some incredible news. You can purchase your copy of our book, Cults, inside the world's most notorious groups and understanding the people who joined them. Available now at parcast.com slash cults. Cults is an expanded look at the people who led and followed the most radical groups in history, with an unflinching exploration into what happens when the most vulnerable recesses of the mind are twisted into the lowest forms of malevolence. details not featured on our podcasts. We're so proud to bring you this fantastic compilation of stories, and we're forever grateful for your support. Without you, none of this would be possible, so thank you. Visit parcast.com slash cults to order your copy of cults, inside the world's most notorious groups and understanding the people who joined them.

That's parkast.com slash cults to order today. Due to the graphic nature of this murder case, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes dramatizations and discussions of gore, sex work, drug use, murder, and assault. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. In late November of 1980, Savannah, Georgia's upper crust watched their mailboxes. They all wanted the same thing. An invitation to Jim Williams' Christmas party. Williams' parties had been the highlight of Savannah's heart.

holiday season for years. The suarez were held in his mansion, a regal estate long known as Mercer House. The 50-year-old antique stealer had stuffed the place with antique furniture and jeweled trinkets from the homes of czars, emperors, and dukes. It had six chandeliers, and when they were all lit, the entire house seemed to sparkle. The home and its parties were the ideal place to see and be seen. And best of all, it was exclusive. Jim Williams only invited a couple hundred of Savannah's wealthiest socialites and changed the guest list every year. So when the party rolled around in late December of 1980,

every attendee felt like they won the lottery. The men dressed up in tuxedos and the women brought out their best satin gowns. Waiters circulated with hors d'oeuvres, regency-era portraits scared down from the walls, and Christmas music emanated from a grand piano. Mercer House felt like a palace, and Williams lorded over it with glee. The party raged on until the early morning. As the attendees filtered out, they not so subtly begged him to be invited back next year.

But these guests didn't know that the party would have a very different feel to it in 1981, because within the next year, Mercer House would become a crime scene, and Jim Williams, their esteemed host, might become a murderer. Hello, listeners, it's Carter. Wendy and I love to bring you stories about the many ways in which murder investigations can go horribly wrong or wonderfully right on our show's unsolved murders and solved murders. But every once in a while, we come across stories that don't fit neatly into either category. Sometimes a closed case gets.

blown wide open. Questions we thought had been answered get thrust back into the public eye. The ensuing controversy transforms what we thought was a simple murder story into something else entirely. For the next two weeks, we want you to join us in asking one very important question. Is this case solved or unsolved? You can find episodes of solved murders, unsolved murders, and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free, exclusively on Spotify. This is our first episode on the death of 21-year-old Danny Hansford. This week, we'll analyze the crime scene and meet our main suspect, Jim Williams.

Next week, we'll cover the legal issues that muddled the case and give the official verdict a well-deserved second look. We have all that and more coming up. Stay with us. Own it all. Pay off your home. travel for life, drive a Ferrari. In celebration of the world premiere of the Monopoly Big Board Buckslot Machine by Aristocrat Gaming,

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Palm Olive's most powerful formula removes up to 99.9% of grease, leaving your dishes sparkling clean. And the new convenient pump makes cleaning even easier so you can spend less time tackling dishes and more time together. Shop now at Palmolive. The phone rang at the Savannah Police Department at 258 a.m. on May 2, 1981. There'd been a shooting at 429 Bull Street. A dispatcher radioed Corporal Michael Anderson and his partner, patrolman, M.A. White. Within 90 seconds, they arrived at the mansion. They immediately recognized it by its more common name, Mercer House.

Confederate General Hugh Mercer started building the house in 1860, and it changed hands multiple times. An antique dealer named Jim Williams moved in in 1969, restored it, and lived there ever since. Williams had rejuvenated multiple historic buildings around Savannah and made a fortune doing it. He was well respected and was often credited with bringing the city's downtown area back to life. But as Anderson and White got out of the patrol car, they might have felt a different pang of recognition. They'd responded to another call here, only one month before. From what they remembered, it was another shooting. One of Williams' employees, a 21-year-old named Danny Hansford, entered the house around 2 a.m. and picked a fight.

He smashed a few of Williams' antiques, then grabbed a pistol and squeezed out two rounds. Both of them went into the floor. Hansford stormed outside and fired at a street light. Williams called the police. When the officers arrived, they found Hansford in an upstairs bedroom pretending to be asleep. But there was blood on his arms, presumably from the wreckage downstairs. Anderson and White took Hansford to jail and forgot about the incident. Now, standing in front of Mercer House, the policeman might have

had second thoughts. They knew Williams bailed Hansford out within a few hours of his arrest. Perhaps the 21-year-old struck again. For all they knew, Williams could be dead by now. The officers unlatched the iron gate and approached the mansion. A pair of Greek columns framed the heavy doors which were hanging open. Though the lights were dim, they could see at least one chandelier sparkling in the foyer. And then a figure appeared at the front door. He was tall and slim, with hair that was going gray at the temples. A neatly trimmed mustache accentuated his narrow features. His dark eyes flitted from side to side before landing on Anderson and White.

It seemed like the officer's worst fears had been averted. This was definitely Jim Williams. But before they could say hello, he said, quote, I shot him. He's in the other room. Then he turned to leave the officers through the dark house. It looked like a museum, but clearly something went wrong. A grandfather clock was shattered in the hallway. A chair was knocked over nearby.

But Williams didn't comment on the furniture. Instead, he led Anderson and White into his study. A young man was faced down on the ground in a white t-shirt and jeans. Blood leaked out of his head and torso and soaked into the Turkish roll. rug. One arm was tucked under his body and the other was outstretched. His hand rested on a vintage revolver. It was the same person they'd arrested a few weeks before, Danny Hansford, and he was already dead. The officers secured the scene and called for backup. They escorted Williams into another room, and he sputtered out a quick explanation. He said that Danny, quote, was shooting at

and I shot him, but he refused to elaborate until lawyers could be present. A police photographer arrived a few minutes later to document the scene. There were definitely signs of a struggle. One gun sat under Danny's hand, and another rested on the desk. Both were World War II-era German Lugers. There were shell casing scattered all over the room. One bullet went through a stack of papers on the leather top desk, Another ricocheted off a wall.

Both seemed to come from behind the desk where Danny's body lay. Three more bullets had lodged themselves in or near Danny's body. One went into his chest, one into his back, and the other next to his ear. All of them looked like they originated on the other side of the desk where Williams was probably standing. The photographer took a closer look and noticed a cigarette butt ground into the leather. It was on Danny's side, and on closer inspection, the cigarette didn't seem to be stuffed with nicotine. It smelled like cannabis. While the camera snapped away in the study, the homicide detectives arrived.

The moment Detective Dwayne Everett Reagan stepped out of his car, he might have noticed something strange. Two civilians stood gawking at the crime scene. Their names were Joe Goodman and Nancy Rushing. They said they were Jim Williams friends. They had arrived at the house just a few seconds after the first officers and seemed to already know about the shooting. Reagan asked what they were doing there. Goodman said that Williams called him that night, twice, in fact.

Goodman explained that he'd known Williams for years. The two of them were supposed to go on a business trip to Europe later that week. But around 205 that morning, Williams rang him up, and said the trip was canceled. At first, this call didn't seem too out of the ordinary, but then Goodman mentioned an odd detail. There had been another voice on the line, Danny Hansford's. According to Goodman, Danny chimed in a few times to express his condolences.

It sounded like he was sitting right next to Williams. Both of them seemed to be in good spirits. Goodman would later testify that Danny seemed a little tithel. but otherwise normal. That made it even more shocking when just 20 minutes later Williams called again and said he'd shot Danny.

Goodman's explanation might have set off alarm bells in Detective Reagan's head. For one, it wasn't clear why Jim Williams was hanging around with his 21-year-old employee at 2 in the morning, especially if that employee

fired a gun at him just one month before. More importantly, the timeline didn't make sense. Williams told the police about the shooting at 258 a.m. He told Goodman around 225, more than half an hour earlier. Detective Reagan likely wondered about what had happened during that half an hour. But before he could put the pieces together, Jim Williams' lawyers arrived.

According to details that would emerge over the next hours and days, this is what Williams said happened that night. Williams knew that the investigators would ask about his relationship with Danny Hansford. So he addressed that first. Williams said he originally hired Danny to help with his antiques business, moving and refinishing furniture. The 50-year-old described Danny as a hot-headed, violent young man. He disappeared for weeks at a time and compulsively used drugs and alcohol.

But over the course of two years, he gained Williams' trust and Williams expanded his role. By 1981, he'd become a general handyman, and more recently, sort of live-in assistant. Williams struggled with chronically low blood sugar and said he was at risk of fainting. He was unmarried and worried about blacking out in an empty house. He needed someone around at all times just in case, and Danny was just the man for the job. When Williams was feeling ill, Danny stayed the night and accompanied him around town. Williams trusted him despite his frequent outbursts. He'd bail Danny out of jail nine times in just ten months

and still kept him on the payroll. Then Jim Williams explained how 21-year-old Danny ended up dead in his study. According to him, it all started when they went to a drive-in movie earlier that night. Williams would later tell the Georgia Gazette that he didn't care for the movie and decided to go home early.

Danny settled in to play. a video game. According to Williams, he was heavily inebriated by that point and quickly lost interest in the game. Danny started ranting about all of the people who disappointed him, starting with his mother. Then he jumped to his feet and smashed the controller. He was blind with rage and it seemed like Williams might be the next target. The 21-year-old grabbed the older man's neck and threatened to choke him. Williams wriggled out of the chokehold and ran to his study. He'd seen Danny like this many times before. All he could do was get out of the way and wait.

The 50-year-old said he heard glass-breaking. It sounded like Danny was picking up antiques and throwing them to the ground. Then there was a bigger crash, the grandfather clock toppling over. That clock was only a few meters away from the study. Just then, Danny burst into the... the room holding a World War II luger. Williams had several of these hidden around the house. They were all fully loaded in case of a break-in. Danny raised his gun and fired, but his aim was off. Williams felt the bullet zoom past his left arm, and Danny pulled the trigger again, but the gun jammed.

Williams knew his life was in danger, and luckily there was another pistol hidden under the desk. He squeezed out three shots in quick succession and saw Danny crumple to the ground. He was too stunned to touch the body, but he was fairly certain Danny was dead. A few minutes later, he called Joe Goodman. During this interview and others, Williams essentially claimed that he shot Danny in self-defense, but his story might have been a little too convenient. Investigators likely picked up on a few inconsistencies. Jim Williams didn't mention the first call to Joe Goodman, which took place around 205 that morning,

and his description of Danny running berserk through the house didn't seem to gel with a cordial conversation that Goodman described. He also failed to provide any explanation for the 30 minutes between his second call to Joe Goodman and his call to the police, or any reason why he didn't call an ambulance. The case was enough to make any detective's head spin and barely an hour had passed. Even if they took William's story at face value, he had confessed to shooting and killing Danny Hansford. And while self-defense was still a possibility, the holes in his story pointed towards something worse, a possible murder. But with two lawyers staring him down, Reagan couldn't make the call on his own. He brought in a district attorney for one more school.

of the crime scene. Coming up, the investigators find more reasons to question Jim Williams. Hi, listeners, it's Vanessa. I'm so excited to tell you that our first book is on sale now. This is such a big moment for the whole Pardcast family, and we can't wait for you to read it. It's called Cults, inside the world's most notorious groups, and understanding the people who join them. And you can purchase it today by visiting Parchast.com cults. This is a passion project years in the making and only made possible by you. With your support, we've been able to get back to our storytelling roots. This time with a wealth of research

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That's parkast.com slash cults. And on behalf of everyone here at Parcast, thank you for joining us on this journey. We hope you enjoy. Introducing Taco Bell's new jalapino citrus salsa with bright citrus, real red jalapinos, Guahillo Chilis. Usually, you add sauce to the food, but when the sauce is this good, the food is just there to get the sauce to your mouth.

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only people allowed in. But the moment he set foot onto the crime scene, he knew that something had been tampered with. Danny Hansford's outstretched hand immediately caught his eye. The hand laid on top of the pistol, but the fingers weren't wrapped around the grip. Danny's thumb was pressed tight against his palm. It looked like he made a fist and then fanned his fingers out across the firearm, or had them pulled out for him. But that wasn't all. Danny was laying in a pool of blood that seemed to originate from a wound in his chest. There was blood on his hand, too, but it looked smeared, and the gun was perfectly clean. One would think that a blood-covered hand would result in a blood-covered pistol,

but the smearing pattern of the blood made Kirkland think of a different possibility. Maybe Danny's hand was moved after the blood dried. Maybe Danny wasn't holding the gun in the first place. The chief assistant DA continued to search the area. He looked at Danny's lower body, which was partially covered by an upright chair. His legs snaked right between the chair legs, which seemed unnatural, and then he saw it. One of the chair's feet was on top of Danny's pants' leg, pinning it down. Danny's pants couldn't have slipped under as he dropped dead.

Someone must have moved the chair after Danny had been killed. Either it had been moved by the police or Jim Williams moved it deliberately. At this point, Kirkland was a... all but sure that Williams manipulated the crime scene. It seemed like he used that mysterious half hour to pull Danny's hand out from under him and place it on the weapon. He also might have moved around some furniture to imply a struggle. Kirkland advised the Savannah Police Department to arrest Williams. Even if he shot Danny in self-defense, he clearly left something out of the story. By 8 a.m. on May 2, 1981, Jim Williams was behind bars, charged with the murder of Danny Hansford.

But he wouldn't be there for long. After the police set bail at $25,000, Williams made a beeline to the phone. Within an hour, Joe Goodman arrived with a paper bag, stuffed with $100 bills. He counted out 250 of them, and with that, Jim Williams was back on the streets. Williams returned to Mercer House and Danny's body was taken to Candler Hospital for an autopsy. Much of the attention was dedicated to his hands. In order to confirm William's story, the investigators needed to know if Danny shot first. Or if he shot at all, simple chemical tests would be able to detect what the eye could not. When firearms are discharged, they release tiny particles of elements like lead and barium. If Danny shot the luger, he'd probably have this residue on his skin.

One detective later testified that he placed paper bags over both of Danny's hands at the crime scene and swabbed them with a test kit at the hospital. The samples were sent to the state crime laboratory for testing. At that time, the state lab had a massive backlog. The investigators would need to wait more than a month to see the gunshot residue results, so the question remained open. Just a few days after Jim Williams got out of jail, he gave a long interview to a local newspaper.

He gave his explanation of the shooting and also painted a more detailed portrait of his relationship with Danny Hansford. Williams recalled meeting Danny in 1979 when he showed up at Mercer House and asked for a job. He knew the boy needed help. Danny was only about 19 at the time, but had already experienced a lifetime of tragedy.

Danny's father took his own life when he was only seven and his mother struggled to care for him. He dropped out of school in eighth grade and was shuffled between orphanages and group homes throughout his adolescence. By the time Williams met him, he'd been sent to mental health facilities twice. But Jim Williams saw potential in Danny.

Williams told the reporter that he was, quote, determined to save Danny from himself. So he gave Danny a job, taught him the ropes of the antique business, and in recent months even gave him a place to sleep. Williams didn't seem defensive about the shooting. If anything, he seemed disappointed that Danny gave into a violent impulse. The way Williams told it, he needed to kill Danny. Otherwise, it would have been his body on the floor.

Obviously, this description was one-sided. And as the article made its way across the city, many readers wondered if Jim Williams was telling the truth. It was hard to believe that he tolerated Danny's behavior out of pure charity. But according to the Savannah rumor mill, Williams may have had a deeper, more lascivious motivation for keeping Danny around. Tim Williams' sexuality had been gossiped about for years. He'd been a bachelor his entire life, despite rubbing elbows with plenty of wealthy available women. And it was an open secret that every year he held a second Christmas party just for men. These two facts led many to assume that Williams was gay.

And when they heard about the shooting, they wondered if Williams was in a sexual or romantic relationship with Danny. In certain ways, this theory made more sense. It explained why Danny wasn't fired after the April incident and why Williams seemed to forgive him at every turn. It also brought up the possibility that the events of May 2nd were spurred by something more than a random outburst at a video game. Some kind of lover's quarrel could have made Danny grab the luger and shoot at Williams, or vice versa.

But all of this was pure speculation. While the investigators waited for the gunshot resists, as a due results, Williams continued to assert that his relationship with Danny was purely professional. He seemed completely confident in his own innocence and continued to run his business as usual. Just a few days after the shooting, he reminded the court that his European business trip was coming up. This was the same one he'd called Joe Goodman about right before the shooting. Apparently, he still wanted to go. He convinced the judge to let him live. leave the country, packed his bags, and headed out on May 5, 1981.

While Jim Williams flitted between auctions in London and Geneva, the case was stuck in a holding pattern. He eventually returned to Savannah, and then, in early June, some of the gunshot residue results came back. The investigators kept them tightly sealed. They still needed to determine the charges to bring against Williams. That meant the evidence needed to be presented to an impartial grand jury. Because Jim Williams already admitted to shooting Danny Hansford, it seemed inevitable that he'd be charged with something. The question was, what?

If the evidence indicated that William shot in self-defense as he claimed, then they could charge him with manslaughter. But if the jury thought the evidence didn't fit with William's version of events, If it showed that he shot first or planned to kill Danny beforehand, then he could be charged with first-degree murder. The district attorney, Spencer Lawton, went before the grand jury on June 12, 1981, in a secret session. The records were kept tightly sealed.

We don't know exactly what happened. But we do know that Lawton presented all the evidence he had against Williams. This might have included photos of the crime scene, diagrams of the bullet paths or the partially completed test results. And we know that after Lawton made his case, the jury didn't hesitate to come to a decision. They indicted Jim Williams for first-degree murder, the most severe charge possible. His trial was scheduled for January of 1982. If the charges shocked at Jim Williams, he didn't show it,

for the next six months, he remained almost unnervingly non-shelioringly. He went to Europe again and continued to buy and sell antiques from his home office. When the holiday season rolled around, William stuck with tradition and sent out 200 invitations to his legendary Christmas soire. In the 1994 book, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, author John Barrett says that William's lawyers encouraged him to throw the party. If he didn't, that could be interpreted as an admission of guilt. Naturally, a few guests declined.

They probably thought it was in poor taste to go to an alleged murderer's home just one month before his trial began, but they were in the minority. About three quarters of the invitees seemed convinced that Williams was innocent, or at least they were convinced enough to attend. And for a few hours, Mercer House felt lively and opulent, just like it did in years past. Not everything was exactly the same as it was before. Most notably, now that Danny was gone, Jim Williams' all-male after party was canceled. Coming up, Jim Williams' trial opens, and the gunshot residue results are unveiled.

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And now, back to our story. The Chatham County Courthouse was bustling with activity on January 25, 1982. It had been more than eight months since Jim Williams shot Danny Hansford, and now he was ready to stand trial. It seemed like all of Savannah had been discussing the case in the time since, but no one could come to any firm conclusions about what actually happened in William's study on the night of May 2, 1981. There were three questions that the case seemed to hinge upon. The first was if Danny actually shot the gun.

The second was if William staged the scene after the shooting, and the third was if they were romantically involved with each. other. But this final question would not be addressed in the courtroom. Before the trial started, the judge banned any direct discussion of the relationship between the two men. Nevertheless, District Attorney Spencer Lawton seemed confident. He thought that Jim Williams shot Danny Hansford in cold blood and then manipulated the scene to make it look like self-defense. And he promised the jury that by the time all the evidence was shown, they would believe that too.

The prosecutor then brought in a parade of witnesses and experts. According to them, the night of May 2nd went something like this. Jim and Danny returned from the drive-in late at night, just like Williams originally stated. They hung around for about an hour, maybe playing a video game as Williams described. Somehow the two of them ended up in the study, on either side of Jim's desk. They got in a fight over something. It might have been Williams' upcoming trip to Europe. The argument escalated, and around 2 a.m., Williams called Goodman to cancel the trip.

After he hung up, the tension continued to mount. It's possible that Danny ground a joint into William's antique furniture to taunt him, and that's what set him off. But for whatever reason, Williams took a loaded pistol out of his drawer and shot Danny in the chest. Danny fell to the ground, face first. In the heat of the moment, Williams circled the desk and put two more shots into him, ensuring that he was dead. Then Williams put his luger down on the desk and rushed to grab another one. He lined himself up behind the dead body and fired across the desk to make it look like Danny was shooting at him.

One of these shots went into a stack of papers on the desk and the other ricocheted into the wall. It looked like a madman was shooting at Williams, which is exactly what he wanted. After the shots were fired, Williams dealt with the body. He wiped any fingerprints off the second gun and placed it on the carpet. Both of Danny's arms were pinned under his body when he fell. Williams carefully pulled his right hand out and set it on top of the pistol. Then the 50-year-old ran around his house, smashing antiques and pushing over furniture. He wanted it to look like Danny was out of control, ransacking the place.

At some point in this process, he called Joe Goodman. And about 30 minutes later, when the scene looked convincing enough, he finally called the police. The prosecution's theory sounded a bit far-fetched and completely at odds with the story Williams had been telling for months, but they had ample evidence to back it up. At the most basic level, they could prove that at least half an hour past, between Williams' call to Joe Goodman and his call to the police. That meant he had more than enough time

to stage the scene. Then there were the bullet paths. Detective Dwayne Reagan explained that the shots from Danny's side of the room didn't line up with the position of his body. If Danny had shot the gun, he would have shot it while standing up, and the bullet paths would be positioned above his feet.

Yet in reality, the gunshots seemed to come from an area above his head. It's highly improbable that Danny's body could have flipped around as he died. It seemed more likely that the actual shooter positioned himself at the wrong end of Danny's body while trying to frame him. This wasn't the only issue with the shots from Danny's side of the room. Reagan reminded the jury that one of them went into a stack of documents, which sent bits of paper flying.

Then he pulled out a picture of William. William's gun, which was sitting on the desk when the police photographer arrived, there was a visible layer of paper fragments on it. It looked like William's gun was in the same spot when the cloud of debris went up, which, according to Reagan, meant William shot first. The prosecution quickly ran through a few other pieces of evidence. They noted the strange position of Danny's hands, the bloody smear marks on his wrist, and, of the oddly position chair.

Multiple expert witnesses agreed that these were clear signs of contrivance. And then the district attorney called up the witnesses everyone had been waiting for. They were two representatives from the state crime lab, finally ready to reveal the results of Danny's gunshot residue tests. The chemist who performed the tests revealed that they came out negative. No gunshot residue had been detected. on Danny's hands. And not only that, one of the chemist's colleagues did a control trial with the gun and

ammunition that Danny allegedly used. According to him, the Lugar emitted significantly more residue than an average gun. The director of the crime lab said that unless there was something wrong with the tests themselves, there was only one logical conclusion. Danny didn't fire the gun. The prosecution took four days to argue their case against Jim Williams. They presented clear and convincing evidence that William shot Danny in cold blood and then staged the crime scene.

But Jim Williams had hired two of the most notorious and presumably most expensive lawyers in the South. They weren't about to go down without a fight. The defense tried to poke holes in the forensic evidence, but many of their arguments were fairly weak. week. In fact, many of the prosecution's key points, like the paper fragments, were never addressed. The real highlight of the defense's case came late in the trial when Jim Williams himself stood up to testify. Williams more or less restated the story he told the officers in press in May with a few additional details mixed in. First, he revealed that Joe Goodman

wasn't originally going to accompany him on his trip to London in May of his trip to London in May of of 1981. He actually planned to take Danny. But at some point in mid-April, Danny told Williams that he wanted to bring drugs on the plane. Williams didn't approve, so he removed Danny from the trip. He asked Goodman to take his place a few weeks before the shooting. Williams said that this change in plans ratcheted up the tension between the two men. On the night of May 2nd, Danny lashed out. Williams tried to calm Danny down by calling Goodman and canceling the Europe trip completely. But this tactic didn't work. Danny stormed out of the room and stomped through the house.

The next thing Williams knew, there was a gun pointed at him. He told the jury that he still remembered the bullet wishing past his right arm. District Attorney Lawton paused at this. Williams originally mentioned a bullet sailing by his left arm. He pointed this out in cross-examination and implied that Williams forgot this detail because his entire story was made up. Jim Williams remained silent, but Lawton charged forward, asking if he had any reason to want Danny dead. The antique dealer said, no, he just wanted to help Danny. Lawton kept pressing. He probed for more details about what kind of work Danny was doing around the house.

Williams reiterated that Danny helped in the furniture shop and watched over him when his health problems kicked in. Nothing more, nothing less. With that, Lawton called in a surprise witness. Danny's best friend, 22-year-old George Hill. The DA asked him to describe the relationship between Williams and Danny. According to Hill, it was far from the support of mentorship Williams described. Hill said that Danny Hansford was actually a part-time sex worker, and Williams was his highest-paying client. The courtroom went silent, but after a few seconds, Hill continued.

He said that Danny saw their relationship as purely transactional, but Williams didn't agree. This tension came to her head right before the shooting. Hill went on to explain that Danny had a steady girlfriend. At one point, Williams tried to bribe him to break up with her. He gave Danny an expensive necklace in exchange for never seeing the woman again. Danny didn't listen. He took the necklace and promptly gave it to his girlfriend. Then he brought her over to Mercer House to show Williams just to spite him.

He'll remembered that Williams blew up at Danny and told him to leave the property. All of this happened two days before Danny died. The defense popped up to cross-examine George Hill. He pointed out that Hill had a criminal record himself. He also found it suspicious that the young man didn't tell his story to the police right after Danny died and wondered if he'd been coached by the prosecution. As it turned out, Jim Williams' lawyers actually tried to block Hill's testimony from the beginning. But because his story came as a rebuttal and introduced a possible motive, the judge allowed it.

And the damage was done. Jim Williams' charitable facade had cracked. No matter what his relationship with Danny Williams was actually like, the jury's conception had been permanently tainted by George Hill's testimony. In midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, author John Barrett points out that homophobia was alive and well in Savannah at the time. The mere suggestion that Williams was gay may have tarnished the jury's view of it. him. And even if they weren't homophobic, they may have been shocked by the fact that he lied.

Everyone in the courtroom was still reeling by the time closing arguments began, and then the district attorney threw another wrench into the case. Midway through his statement, Spencer Lawton offered up a new theory about the shooting. Up until this point, it had been seen as a spur-of-the-moment crime of passion. and even George Hill implied that Jim Williams had grown to resent Danny and happened to hit his breaking point on May 2nd. But Lawton said this wasn't the case. He told the jury that Williams actually planned to kill Danny.

He might have been planning it for months. According to John Barrett, the DA floated the idea that the April incident was actually a test run. He implied that Danny didn't do anything that night. Williams actually shot the gun and ransacked the place. Then he framed Danny for all of it. It's unclear why the prosecution decided to explore this hypothesis. They may have been trying to prove premeditation,

which is one requirement of the first-degree murder charge. It was a strange diversion from their generally airtight argument and would become immensely important later on in the case. But apparently the jury wasn't fake. after closing arguments concluded they took only three hours to come to a decision. Jim Williams was guilty of murder. Within minutes, Williams' lawyer told the press that he would file an appeal as soon as possible, but it was hard to imagine how the facts of the case could lead to a different verdict.

There was a mountain of forensic evidence that conflicted with the self-defense story. The crime scene had been clear. clearly manipulated by someone. Williams never accounted for the half hour between the shooting and the police call. And his close relationship with Danny seemed to indicate some motive. It could have been jealousy over Danny's girlfriend, a long-held plan to get rid of Danny for fear of being outed, or a simple, horrible act of intimate partner violence.

The facts seem to line up too well to lead to any other outcome. and on some level it seems like Williams knew that. As soon as he arrived at the Chatham County Jail, he got to work making it as comfortable as possible. According to Barron's book, rumors flew about William's behavior behind bars. Some said that he asked prison officials if he could have meals from his favorite restaurants

catered to his cell. Others said he requested a few of his favorite pieces of furniture, most notably an antique writing table. It seems highly unlikely that these requests were even real, but if they were, Williams didn't have much time to get them done. Because just two days after he was given a life sentence, the convicted murderer was walking the streets of Savannah once again. Thanks again for tuning into our solved or unsolved crossover special.

Next week we'll explore how Jim Williams got out of prison and reconsider if the jury's verdict was truly fair. For more information on the death of Danny Hansford, amongst the many sources we used, we found two books extremely helpful to our research. These were Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Barrett and Lawyer Games, after midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by Depp Kirkland.

You can find all episodes of solved murders, unsolved murders, and all other Spotify originals from Parcast, for free on Spotify. We'll see you next time. If we live till next time. Unsolved Murders is a Spotify original from Parcast.

Executive producers include Max and Ron Cutler. Sound designed by Michael Langsner with production assistants by Ron Shapiro, Nick Johnson, Trent Williamson, and Carly Madden. This episode of Unsolved Murders was written by Kylie Harrington, edited by Giles Hofseth, fact-checked by Claire Cronin,

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