Ivey Nance

From the Farm to the Electric Chair: the John Wallace Story Ivey Nance

Publisher Marketing: Was it murder in Coweta County or manslaughter in Meriwether? Sixty-one years later, people are still asking that question. From the Farm to the Electric Chair has no Saints within its pages. This book is not for the faint of heart. It's a tale of corruption, greed, envy and the length that man will go to because of it. It's a sad, tragic tale of justice gone awry in a small southern town in Georgia that affected the entire population of two counties. This is a true story based on the life and death of John Wallace. His six and half hour statement to the jury because he had no witnesses for his own defense. All the witnesses that could be called were also charged with the same murder and had been threatened with the electric chair if they gave testimony for Wallace. His statement reads in part: "I have never had the desire to take any human life. I am an average church going man. I go to church and Sunday School on Sunday. I love my God just like you love your God. Your God is my God. There is only one. I am no cold-blooded head hunter. I have never wanted to harm any man. I certainly tried to show you gentlemen (of the jury). I have gone in quite a few details. They might not seem so essential to somebody, but they do to me. They are essential to me. It is my statement, and it is the truth. It is all the truth."