MACON, Ga. — A Macon pastor who had two girlfriends at the same time — and, at times, two fiances — was convicted of murdering one of his fiances back in 2015 on the day of their wedding.
But after an appeal, the Georgia Supreme Court let William Pounds' murder conviction stand on Tuesday, saying the jury rightfully convicted him under the law.
Despite serving as a pastor at King’s Chapel Memorial CME Church in Perry, the opinion paints a picture of Pounds leading a life of lies. They say he dated two women at once over a 10-year period, convincing both girlfriends that they were his true love.
"Yet Pounds was repeatedly able to convince each woman that he had left the other and wanted to be with her," the opinion said.
But the two discovered that was a lie when they both showed up at Pounds' church to surprise him on National Pastor Appreciation Day back in May 2015, prompting the two to start texting back and forth.
"These texts led the women to discover that Pounds was cheating on each woman with the other, despite presently being engaged to be married to [the other woman Vicinda] Crawford," the opinion said. "Through their text messages, Crawford and Jackson consoled each other over their situation."
Despite the infidelity, one of the women stayed in a relationship, and Pounds and Crawford were set to wed on June 12, 2015.
On the day of the wedding, his former girlfriend Jackson was found shot to death.
While Pounds claimed that Jackson had shot and killed herself, in a trial in December 2015, jurors found him guilty of Jackson's murder.
A forensic expert testified that there was "no evidence that [Jackson] had the gun in her hand" when the shots were fired, and he testified she was left lying facedown on the ground for at least 10 minutes before she was flipped over.
The expert also testified Pounds had not "immediately" called 911 after she was shot as he claimed, instead saying that he waited 7 minutes to call authorities.
After the trial, Pounds was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
In his appeal, Pounds claimed there was not enough evidence for a jury to convict him, but the Supreme Court did not buy that.
They point to inconsistencies in his stories, history of violence and the expert testimony giving the jury enough to find him guilty of murder.
Pounds also claimed that hearsay evidence — evidence not heard from inside the court — was improperly admitted, but the court found that the decision was harmless. It would not have led to a different outcome, and because of that, it is not enough to overturn his conviction.
Under the law, the Georgia Supreme Court has to look at the evidence in the most favorable manner to the verdict. When doing that, they say there was no reason to toss out his conviction since the jury had "ample" evidence.
After the original verdict in 2015, then-District Attorney David Cooke said: “Kendra Jackson died fighting for her life. Now her killer will be held accountable.”
Now, after the Georgia Supreme Court's ruling, Pounds will continue to live out the rest of his life behind bars.
