James Lamar Watson Jr., convicted

of murdering his wife in 1997 and dumping her body in a wooded area of

south Fulton County, will not be getting a new trial.

The Fulton County judge who

ruled over the case, T. Jackson Bedford Jr., has denied Watson's

motion for a new trial in a 12-page order filed late Tuesday afternoon.

Watson's lead defense

attorney, Lee Sexton, said Wednesday that he will file a notice of appeal

with the Georgia Supreme Court as early as today.

"We're very confident

the Supreme Court will not let that conviction stand," largely due

to the amount of judicial error alleged by defense attorneys, Sexton said.

Watson, who claimed his wife

Beverley disappeared from their south Fayette home after a heated argument

between the two Jan. 17, 1997, will remain in the Fulton County jail pending

further appeal of his case. He is there instead of the state corrections

system because his attorneys want him close by to help with the appeal

process, Sexton said.

Watson, who testified at trial

and maintained his innocence, was sentenced to life in prison immediately

after the verdict was read in June 2002.

Watson's attorneys used

19 different claims asserting he should get a new trial, and Judge Bedford

addressed some of those claims in detail while denying others with little

comment.

Defense attorneys were particularly

hopeful about their challenge of the indictment, which was ultimately

denied. Specifically, they pointed out that the assistant district attorney

argued in her closing that Jim Watson killed Beverley Watson at their

Fayette home before dumping it in Fulton County.

But that claim could not be

considered by the jury as evidence, Bedford noted.

"The evidence presented

could have equally supported the conclusion that the defendant somehow

was able to bring the victim to Fulton County prior to death (maybe while

she was incapacitated) and inflict a mortal wound in this county,"

Bedford wrote.

Watson's defense team

also complained several comments the judge made in front of the jury during

the trial were prejudicial against Watson, but the judge ruled that some

of those comments were "initiated and invited" by defense counsel

and indicated that another comment attorneys complained about was obviously

made in jest during a humorous moment of the trial.

Watson was convicted with little

physical evidence, save for scratches on his face which he tried to cover

up with makeup before he called the Fayette County Sheriff's Department

to report his wife missing two days after her disappearance.

Lt. Col. Bruce Jordan of the

Fayette County Sheriff's Department first noticed the scratches when

a TV news crew's bright lights shone on Watson's face.

Fulton County Assistant District

Attorney Sheila Ross used photos of those scratches in her closing argument,

urging that Beverley Watson used her fingernails to "mark her killer."

Jim Watson testified on the

stand that couple indeed argued that night and that the scratches on his

face likely occurred when she threw keys at him.

Watson's attorneys also

complained that they were ordered not to air TV footage and a taped interview

with a Fulton County detective during which Watson proclaims his innocence.

Bedford also ruled the court did not err in forbidding that content from

being played to the jury.

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