Imagine You're Standing Trial for a Murder You Didn't Commit and Your Lawyer is Terrible
It happened to a mother and daughter. One woman's lawyer acted crazy and the other failed to call an expert witness.
Their nightmare began mid–afternoon on Memorial Day 2011 when 45–year–old Elgerie Cash did something stupid. Her friend, Donny Jones, was visiting her home in rural Georgia and she decided to show him her new Glock pistol.
But it accidentally discharged, making a hole in the wall. She started to unload the pistol when Jones, who was drunk, grabbed it and said "It's not loaded now," Cash disagreed but Jones put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger. He should have listened.
When sheriff's deputies arrived, Cash's 19–year–old daughter, Jennifer Weathington, was holding Jones, cradling his bleeding head. He died in the hospital a few hours later.
When a medical examiner conducted an autopsy he found no gunpowder residue around the wound and concluded that the gun had been at least 18 inches away from Jones' head. That made suicide unlikely.
At the time of the autopsy, the doctor didn't know that crime scene technicians had overlooked a baseball cap Jones had been wearing. Found later, the cap had a bullet hole and blood stains.
She found another lawyer who seemed to be a bargain. She didn't know that the attorney, Thomas Ford, had a drinking problem and was going through a divorce.
So, she must have been surprised when, trying to tell Ford something during jury selection, he replied "Shut the fuck up, bitch!"
Ford used profanity so often during the trial jurors asked the judge to make him stop. But he wasn't always noisy. At times he appeared to be asleep.
At one point, Ford mockingly imitated the voice of a witness who had throat cancer. The one thing he didn't do was call any witnesses.
Neither did Jennifer Weathington's lawyer, a public defender, even though he had retained a ballistics expert who wrote a favorable report. The expert's testimony would have contradicted the theory that the gun had been a foot and a half from Jones' head, but the expert never took the stand.
Maybe Ford's antics had distracted the public defender. Ford's performance climaxed during closing argument. He put on Jones' baseball cap and pretended to summon him from the grave.
On October 25, 2013, the jury found both mother and daughter guilty on all counts. The court sentenced each to life in prison.
The women got new lawyers, who convinced the court to grant a new trial. Forensic experts testified for the defense and, on May 1, 2019, the jury acquitted the women of all charges. Their nightmare was over.
But what happened to the lawyer–from–hell?
Ford's behavior changed after his arrest on a DUI charge, resulting in his treatment for alcohol abuse. The Georgia Supreme Court reprimanded him for his conduct at the trial, but allowed him to continue to practice law.
