William
J. Mayo moved from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Atlanta, Georgia so
that he could pursue his dream of obtaining the finest possible
college education at Morehouse College – which he attended on
an Army ROTC Academic scholarship while working on his degree
in psychology. Ironically, his minor was criminal justice.
William wanted
to expose other young men to the world of opportunities he
had obtained for himself. It was Williams’s belief at heart
that he could help make a difference in the lives of young
people through a mentoring program. In November of 1991, William
drove two young men – Tyrone Wilson and Dale Thomas -- from
Chicago to Atlanta for the Morehouse College homecoming weekend.
It was William’s hope that the visit would demonstrate to
the young men what college life was like, and that it would
encourage them to seek a better life than what they were living
in Chicago. They arrived in Atlanta on November 3, 1991.
That evening, around 7:15 to 7:30, William made a stop
in Smyrna (a small town outside of Atlanta located in Cobb
County) that would forever change his life.
William retrieved some clothing and personal items
from an acquaintance who had stored them for him until
he could return from Chicago to pick them up. The two
young men accompanying William remained in the car while
he picked up his belongings.
During the time William was as at the house, these
two young men burglarized and robbed a home that was
two doors away from the house were William was. According
to many statements made by the men themselves, their
intent was to go to the house where William was, rob
him, and steal from anyone who would have been in the
house. In a May 2004 interview with Atlanta’s WAOK,
one of the two men (Wilson), repeated his often-made
statement that he and Thomas had planned all along to
steal from William, turning the trip into an easy crime
spree.
Instead, they went to the wrong house. Having planned
to commit crimes, however, Wilson and Thomas decided
to make the most of the moment.
They terrorized a bi-racial, middle aged couple
for about 10 to 20 minutes, tying them up with telephone
cord before stealing jewelry and small items from
the house. The duo was able to make it back to the
car just before William returned with his belongings.
William drove away without any knowledge that a
crime had taken place. The car was pulled over upon
entry onto the interstate by police officers with
their guns drawn. William and the two young men
were arrested, taken into custody and charged with
burglary, armed robbery and aggravated assault.
Even though the victims initially reported
seeing only two attackers, and though the
young men themselves eventually stated in court
appeal hearings that William had nothing to do
with the robbery, William was slammed with
two life sentences for armed robbery, and two
20-year sentences for the aggravated assault charges.
The victims suffered no serious injuries during
their attack.
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French version (Français)