True Crime Stories

Some of you may remember a television movie back in 1983 with this title. It starred Johnny Cash and Andy Griffith. One of the funny things about that movie is that Andy Griffith, someone who was known first by “wholesome” television from the series carrying his name and later as the lawyer “Matlock” played the “bad guy” here while Johnny Cash, known for his rebelness (is that a word? Spell check does not think so.), was the “good guy.” One of the strange things about this case is that while we have a victim, and a perpetrator was brought to justice, and I can tell you that the perpetrator, John Wallace was executed on November 3, 1950, the best that I can tell you is that the victim, William “Wilson” Turner, was murdered in April of 1948. John Wallace has been described as a “wealthy landowner” in Meriwether County Georgia in 1948. By most accounts despite anyone else who may or may not have held any power title, it was Wallace who ran and controlled things ...

Few things irritate me more in defendants in cases in which it is blatantly obvious that they are guilty is arrogance. Alec McNaughton had it in spades! Alec McNaughton was innocent and everyone who had anything to do with the investigation into the death of his wife, or any testified against him were liars. Phone records that said he was not where he said he was were wrong. The detective in charge of the investigation was only out to make a name for himself because it was his first homicide case. Despite the fact his daughter, who would tragically later die in a car accident, called 911 years prior to report that she had overheard him state that he was going to kill her, her mother and then himself, she “knew better.” It is likely that Alec McNaughton's arrogance came from the fact that he had once been an attorney but the funny thing is that those skills did not prevent him from talking to authorities or asking for a lawyer when he was repeatedly interrogated. O...