Conference Recap
Experiential Learning in the Garden
According to Savannah tour guide Miss Wendy, any good southern story begins with, “Y’all are not gonna believe this.” The participants in Track II of the NASJE conference packed into the bus to visit the sites depicted in John Berendt’s book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and hear Miss Wendy’s insider details. The tour was the first of two experiential learning opportunities (ELOs) for participants (most of whom actually read the book before the conference) to engage in Kolb’s learning model. Miss Wendy pointed out places from both the book and the movie (and highlighted differences between the two) as she drove through the narrow streets of Savannah. Participants passed such landmarks as the site where Jim Williams first began restoring homes, Miss Emma Kelly’s bar, homes occupied by Joe Odom, Mr. Sonny Seiler’s law office, and the nightclub where the Lady Chablis still performs once a month. The tour culminated outside Mercer House, which is owned by Williams’ sister and is open for tours.
During the second session, Mr. Frank W. “Sonny” Seiler, Esq. shared background information and brought several of the trial exhibits to show the participants. Seiler served as Williams’ defense attorney during three of his four trials and played the judge in the movie. Seiler first became involved in the case because he was a friend and neighbor of Williams. Seiler served as Williams’ civil defense lawyer in the suit brought by Danny Hansford’s mother. Seiler pointed out that no money was every paid in connection with that suit. Seiler inherited the criminal case because he first served as co-counsel and then lead counsel due to a scheduling conflict for Williams’ criminal lawyer. The Williams case went on for eight years.
Williams was actually in jail when Berendt moved to Savannah. Berendt originally planned to simply write a book about Williams’ trial but continued to meet people who told stories that he could not resist including in the book. There were 127 photographs taken at the crime scene. At least twelve police officers spent five hours at Mercer House investigating the scene. The officers even made coffee in the kitchen. Despite this volume of evidence, Seiler discovered new evidence with each new trial. During the third trial, Seiler learned about a hospital admissions record that had previously been overlooked. He called the nurse on duty in the emergency room on the night Danny Hansford was admitted. She and other hospital staff testified that the hands were bagged in the emergency room. This directly contradicted the testimony of a police office who testified repeatedly that he had bagged the hands at the scene before transporting Hansford to the hospital. The third trial ended in mistrial.
After the third trial ended in a mistrial, Seiler received a tip from a juror. The juror told Seiler to “play up” a picture of Williams’ cat Sheldon walking through the crime scene that the State asserted had been secured. Everyone involved had overlooked the cat’s presence in the crime scene during the first three trials. (The book was almost titled The Cat Did It.) Seiler emphasized this evidence in the fourth trial. The fourth trial resulted in an acquittal after the jury in Augusta deliberated for thirty-one minutes.
As a character in the book and a local resident, Seiler shared some of the impact that “The Book” has had on Savannah. For a time, people lined up waiting their turn to drink martinis in Bonaventure Cemetery, and the famous Bird Girl statute in Bonaventure Cemetery shown on the book cover was moved to the Telfair Museum of Art largely because curious onlookers trampled the grounds surrounding the statue. As an aside, curious readers can visit http://www.savannahnow.com/goodandevil/ to read more.
When asked his reflection on the practice of law, Seiler advises judges to be aware of what is going on in their communities because there is no ethical rule against using common sense. Seiler maintains that the Savannah juries were convicting Williams of being gay rather than for committing a murder. The change of venue to another community was necessary for Williams to finally receive a fair trial.
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