In a prison cell all to himself,

serving life in prison for murdering his wife, Jim Watson has had plenty

of time to plot how he'll clear his name.

"I work on it day and

night," Watson said Friday afternoon in an exclusive interview with

The Citizen. "When I received the transcripts (of the trial) I stayed

up three nights straight separating people's testimony. When you're sitting

in jail alone for 23 hours a day you've got nothing else to do."

Watson has been jailed since

last June when a Fulton County jury convicted him of murdering his wife,

Beverley. Her remains were found in a wooded area of south Fulton County

in 1999, over two years after Jim Watson told police she walked away from

the couple's south Fayette home and never came back.

Watson's attorneys have argued

that he deserves a new trial because of a mistake Fulton County prosecutors

made with the indictment. Watson hopes a new trial would not only convince

a jury that he's innocent, but also prove his innocence to residents here.

"I really want another

chance to prove to the people of the town that I was innocent and I was

framed," Watson said. "I want the media to cover it and show

the lies that were told."

Does he regret taking the stand

in his own defense during the trial last summer?

"Oh no, no. Not at all.

And I'll do it again," he said. "... Some people might say I'm

cocky. I'm not cocky, I'm confident. I know I'm innocent."

***

If Watson can get himself cleared

of the murder charges, he also wants to make a run at becoming Fayette

County's next sheriff. The term of current Sheriff Randall Johnson ends

next year.

"Ever since I got into

law enforcement I've always wanted to run for sheriff in Fayette County

when Randall Johnson retires," said Watson, who has been a police

officer for the cities of Riverdale and Manchester in addition to working

undercover drug stings with the Tri-Cities drug task force. "Since

the early '90s I've wanted to run for sheriff in the county I grew up

in."

Watson says he would get support

from his friends in the law enforcement community. He wants to see Fayette

take a tougher stance on illegal drugs,little surprise since he formerly

served as an undercover police officer on drug stings for the Tri-Cities

drug task force.

"If I can ever get this

all behind me by March or April of next year... I'm already planning my

foundation and platform, everything I want to bring to the table,"

Watson said in a phone interview Friday afternoon.

***

Watson now lives the life of

an inmate, and a convicted murderer at that. He has been confined to Reidsville

State Prison in protective (solitary) custody because he is a former police

officer,and mixing him with other inmates could have bad results. As Watson

puts it, "There's several of them I've put down there."

Protective custody means he

gets his own cell, with its own sink and toilet, all to himself 23 hours

a day. He gets one hour daily to go outside and exercise, getting fresh

air with a group. He also eats alone in his cell, Watson said, noting

that one inmate at Reidsville saw him through a window and shouted some

threats at him.

Watson added that he's not

scared of the inmates because the prison staff keeps him well away from

inmates who know him from his police days.

"They don't let anybody

near me," he said.

While he helps his attorneys

plan his appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court, Watson likely will spend

his time behind bars in Fulton County's jail, a process that could take

many months.

***

In Reidsville, family and friends

are allowed visits on weekends, with daughter Ashley making trips often

to visit and help her dad plan his legal battle. When she's not there,

Watson will call her several times a night sometimes to discuss the case.

"She knows this law stuff

like crazy," Jim Watson said.

Watson contends several witnesses

lied on the stand to help secure the jury verdict against him. He contradicts

the account of two neighbors who claimed to see him outside the evening

of Beverley's disappearance, both of whom admitted they were driving home

after having drinks at bars.

As for his theory about what

happened to Beverley after he last saw her during a heated argument on

Jan. 18, 1997?

"My gut feeling? I'm kind

of 50-50 but I'm (thinking) a friend didn't pick her up but something

else happened on the side of the road." That was Watson's original

theory about how his wife disappeared. He told Georgia Bureau of Investigation

agents in a three-hour interview after her disappearance that he thought

she had called a friend to get a ride .

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