Frederic Tokars Trial: 1997

Unsurprisingly, Tokars had hired a topnotch defense team, and James Berry wasted little time in portraying his client as an innocent dupe, victimized by corrupt police detectives, an embittered business partner, and a media frenzy fed by Sara Tokars' vengeful family.

"Fred Tokars is the scapegoat in this case," Berry said. "A beautiful young woman is killed … and what would be a terrible tragedy, as well, is if Fred Tokars is convicted of something he did not do."

Charron's first witness—Sara's younger sister Joni Ambrusko—testified about her sister's failing marriage. "She would say, 'Please, Fred please, let's figure out how to get a divorce.'" But Tokars always rejected Sara's pleas, saying,"'I'll never let you have the kids.'"

Next came Atlanta prostitute Patricia Williams, who told the court that during her only "date" with Tokars, "he asked me if I did drugs and if I knew any drug dealers who would kill his wife for him … he said it was because she was going to divorce him and knew too much."

However, Williams' probity took a big hit when Tracey Gammons, Tokars' receptionist, testified that far from being a stranger to the defendant, as she claimed, Williams had several times called at his office, carrying documents for Eddie Lawrence.

The third member of the alleged murder triumvirate, self-confessed gunman Curtis Rower, did not testify at the trial, but his role in this tragedy was confirmed by his girlfriend, Lashara Bryant. On the night of Sara Tokars' death, Rower allegedly confided to her, "Baby, I shot a white [woman]."

Right from the outset, it had been obvious that Eddie Lawrence would be the state's key witness, their main hope of executing Fred Tokars. The former businessman didn't disappoint. In a matter-of-fact way he outlined the plot to murder Sara Tokars, with every detail planned by her husband over several meetings, the last just hours before the shooting.

On cross-examination, lead defense attorney, Bobby Lee Cook, worked himself up into a lather of indignation over the "sweetheart" deal with prosecutors that allowed Lawrence to escape the electric chair in return for testifying against Tokars, and the fact that after serving his prison term, Lawrence would be given a new identity under the federal Witness Protection Program.

Tempers frayed to breaking point as Cook hit top gear. "You're a flimflam artist, aren't you? You're a liar," he thundered over Lawrence's repeated denials. "You've lied so much, even you don't know when you're lying or telling the truth."

In the end Cook succeeded in extracting an admission from Lawrence that he had frequently lied to business associates. "But I know when I'm telling the truth," Lawrence added defiantly.