James Lamar

Watson Jr., convicted last summer of murdering his wife, Beverley, may

get a new trial if a judge allows a request to set aside the indictment

against him.

It is not clear

whether Watson would be freed on bond if a new trial is granted, but it

certainly would be a blow to prosecutors, who used a large amount of circumstantial

evidence with a small amount of physical evidence to convince a Fulton

County jury of Watson's guilt last summer.

Defense attorney

Lee Sexton asked the presiding judge on the case to set aside the indictment

and grant a new trial for Watson because the document stated that Jim

Watson killed his wife in Fulton County. The state, however, failed to

prove that in last summer's trial, Sexton said in a court hearing Friday

morning.

"They

are bound by what they put in the indictment," Sexton said of the

prosecutors' duty. "... There is not one scintilla of evidence that

she was killed in Fulton County."

Assistant District

Attorney Christopher Quinn countered Sexton, saying the state did not

have a burden to prove Beverley Watson was killed in Fulton County. Georgia

law allows Fulton County to prosecute Watson because the manner Mrs. Watson

was killed is unknown, Quinn added.

"He was

charged in accordance with statutory law and case law," Quinn said.

"Mr. Watson was put on sufficient notice of what he was charged with

murdering his wife."

Beverley Watson's

remains, which were identified through dental records, were found in a

wooded area in south Fulton County in 1999, over two years after she disappeared.

That break changed the case from a missing person investigation to a homicide,

and it allowed Fulton County prosecutors to take over the case from Fayette

officials, who had not filed murder charges by the time Fulton County

arrested him in January of last year.

Prosecutors

could not prove how Beverley Watson died, but the medical examiner who

studied her remains concluded she was likely murdered because of the remote

location her remains were found.

After Friday's

hearing, Fulton County Superior Court Judge T. Jackson Bedford reserved

his ruling on the defense motion for a new trial without indicating when

he expects to render a decision.

Judge Bedford

reminded Quinn that Sexton was challenging the legality of the indictment

and not venue in the case, which is controlled by the law Quinn was referring

to.

Sexton pointed

out that prosecutor Sheila Ross, no longer with the Fulton County District

Attorney's Office, told jurors in her closing argument that Jim Watson

killed Beverley in Fayette County.

Quinn noted

that the contents of closing arguments are not considered evidence under

Georgia law and there was no evidence submitted to indicate where Beverley

Watson was killed.

Quinn added

that prosecutors presented witnesses that countered the defense contention

that Beverley Watson walked away from the couple's home Jan. 18, 1997

after they argued. He pointed to the transcript of the trial for testimony

of several witnesses who lived in the neighborhood one of whom said he

saw Jim Watson carrying something outside the couple's home the evening

Beverley Watson disappeared.

Watson never

mentioned going outside the home in a three-hour interview with the Georgia

Bureau of Investigation, prosecutors said during the trial. Instead, he

told agents he watched TV and went to bed after playing with the family's

dogs.

Watson also

told GBI agents that he assumed his wife had arranged for a friend to

pick her up that evening. He noted that he had heard the front door chime

just before she left the couple's home; the chime always rang anytime

the front door was opened, he said.

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