This was one of mine, and he got to sit in "Ol' Sparky," and some folks in the
British land pitched a fit, because he had dual citizenship. He probably got
what he deserved.
At approximately 6:30 p.m. on June 3, 1983, a young white man armed with a
pearl-handled pistol entered the home of J.C. and Mary Sawyer and demanded the
use of their phone. This young man, whom Mrs. Sawyer later identified as the
defendant, Nicholas Ingram, stated that he wanted money and the keys to their
car. He fired a shot through the floor of the living room to prove that the gun
was not a toy and threatened to blow their heads off if they did not comply
with his demands. In response, Mrs. Sawyer gave Ingram $60 and J.C. gave him
the keys to his blue-and-white Chevrolet pickup truck.
Ingram then marched them outside and into the woods which surrounded their
home. Using rope and some wire, Ingram tied his victims' hands behind them and
then tied them to a tree. He told Mrs. Sawyer to remember a tattoo that she had
noticed on his arm because it was going to get her killed. As the Sawyers
begged for their lives, the defendant continued his threats, saying that he
liked to torture people as he took off his shirt, tore it in two, and stuffed
the two halves into their mouths. Then he shot them both in the head. J.C.
Sawyer was killed; however, Mrs. Sawyer was only wounded. She fell to the
ground and pretended she was dead until she heard the truck drive off.
Realizing that her husband was dead, Mrs. Sawyer managed to untie herself and
went to a neighbor's house to call the police.
Earlier that day, Ingram had gone to a pawn shop with his friend Kevin Plummer
(who was half retarted), in the latter's car, to sell some automobile wheels
and a ring. Then they went to see a friend of Ingram's who worked at a
convenience store. Afterwards, Ingram and Plummer drove to Ingram's father's
house, where Ingram retrieved a pearl-handled .38 revolver. He told Plummer
that he knew where he could get a vehicle, a purple Cadillac, that he was going
to use to go to California. He directed Plummer to a driveway that led through
the woods and up Blackjack Mountain in Cobb County, but not to the right house,
the one with the purple Cadillac.
They drove a short distance up the driveway and stopped. Ingram got out and
told Plummer to wait for him. He told Plummer that he might have to pistol-whip
them but he was not sure he could shoot them. He walked up the driveway and out
of sight. Plummer decided not to wait and drove home.
At around 8 p.m., Ingram showed up at the convenience store he had visited
earlier that day. He remained only a few moments, then left, driving a
blue-and-white pickup truck. The pickup truck was recovered on Interstate 20 in
Mississippi three days later. Inside was a motel receipt from Lincoln, Alabama,
dated June 3, 1983. The motel's portion of the receipt was later obtained and
the handwriting on it was identified as Ingram's.
Ingram stole another car in California and was eventually arrested in Nebraska
for DUI. While being questioned about the stolen automobile, Ingram told the
police that he could save them some time; that if they would check with Cobb
County, Georgia, they would find that he was wanted for two murders.
Questioning stopped then, and was resumed by Georgia authorities after they had
been contacted and had returned Ingram to Georgia. Ingram gave them a long
statement in which he admitted remembering some of the events of the afternoon
of June 3, including being dropped off at the Sawyer driveway, returning to
find Plummer gone, getting into a truck and backing out of the driveway. He
stated that he woke up the next morning in a shopping center parking lot in
Alabama in the truck. He contended that he had blacked out from drinking and
could not remember shooting or robbing anyone.
I'm basically opposed to the death penalty, but in some cases, maybe it's
deserved.
And, strangely, Mary Sawyer worked as one of our bailiffs for several years.
You'd think after going through the rigors of the trial, she'd never want to
come back to the courthouse again. She was a very nice lady.
Walt
--
"Anything more than 500 yards from
the car just isn't photogenic." --
Edward Weston
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