William
J. Mayo moved from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Atlanta,
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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.
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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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