SAVANNAH, Ga. — Spencer Lawton Jr., a former Georgia district attorney who worked to expand the rights of crime victims and prosecuted a Savannah murder made famous by the book “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” he died He was 81 years old.

Lawton died Wednesday at his home in Savannah, according to an obituary from Gamble Funeral Service. No cause of death was given.

Lawton was a young Savannah attorney in private practice when he won election to the office of Chatham County District Attorney in 1980. He held the position for 28 years before retiring. During his tenure, Lawton created a program to help victims navigate the confusing and potentially traumatic course of criminal proceedings. It became a model adopted by other Georgia prosecutors.

“He was a great advocate for crime victims,” ​​said Meg Heap, who served as a victim advocate and deputy district attorney under Lawton before being elected Chatham County District Attorney in 2012. “You’re on the right side and you’re bringing justice for someone who wouldn’t get it otherwise, a victim who comes and thinks no one cares.

Despite his nearly three decades as the Savannah-area state’s attorney, Lawton would become best known for a murder case that began just months after taking office.

In May 1981, antiques dealer Jim Williams called the police to his 19th-century mansion in Savannah’s historic district. Williams had shot Danny Hansford, 21, an employee and Williams’ boyfriend. Although Williams insisted he killed Hansford in self-defense, police suspected he staged the scene to make it appear Hansford fired a gun at him first.

Lawton indicted Williams on one count of murder and personally prosecuted the case. He went to trial four times, with the Georgia Supreme Court overturning the convictions in the first two trials and the third ending in a hung jury. Williams was finally acquitted in 1989. He died at home seven months later.

The twists and turns of the case formed the central narrative of John Berendt’s 1994 bestseller Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. With Williams as its central character, the book portrayed Lawton as its “eloquent and venomous” antagonist.

When Clint Eastwood directed a 1997 film based on the book, the district attorney was renamed Finley Largent.

“I don’t really think of the Williams case when I think of Spencer’s contributions to the community,” said David Lock, who was Lawton’s chief assistant prosecutor. “I never read the book. But from what I’ve heard, it’s an unfair portrayal of Spencer Lawton.”

Lawton created a special program to assist crime victims as well as courtroom witnesses shortly after taking office. He hired and trained attorneys to explain to victims how the legal process works, give them updates on scheduled court hearings, and sometimes help them find counseling.

Other Georgia district attorneys have begun expanding and improving their own victim-witness programs based on what Lawton was doing in Savannah, said Pete Skandalakis, executive director of the Georgia Council of State Attorneys.

“Before victim-witness assistance programs really took off, victims entered the criminal justice system against their own will and were virtually never kept up to date with developments in their cases,” Skandalakis said. “The prosecutors themselves were far too busy. to keep up with their daily caseload. So in a prosecutor’s office, there was no one a victim could talk to.

Lawton retired as district attorney at the end of 2008. Two years later, he helped lead an effort to expand the rights of crime victims under state law.

The 2010 law guaranteed victims the opportunity to speak in court during sentencing hearings for offenders. It also required victims to be notified of the disposition of cases involving crimes against them, as well as whenever perpetrators escaped or were released from prison.

“He brought professionalism to any endeavor he undertook,” Lock said. “And his special contribution to prosecutors’ offices and the legal profession as a whole was his advocacy of victims’ rights.”