In Memoriam: Lewis R. Slaton

When former Fulton County District Attorney Lewis R. Slaton died on November 18th of last year at age 80, the final chapter closed on a local legend. Mr. Slaton had become an institution by the time he announced his retirement from the Office he had held for 31 years in 1996. Just as hundreds turned out for his gala retirement dinner that year, so did countless admirers at funeral services last November. Mr. Slaton was a native of East Point, Georgia, and a 1939 graduate of Russell High School. He went on to North Georgia College, received a B.S. degree from Georgia State University, and obtained his law degree from Emory University Law School. Mr. Slaton was in private practice for nearly 20 years (for a time with law partner

and future Superior Court Judge Elmo Holt) and then served as First Assistant City Attorney for the City of Atlanta. In 1962, he ran unsuccessfully for a Superior Court judgeship in Fulton—the only election he would ever lose. Then, in April of 1965, Governor Carl Sanders appointed Mr. Slaton as Fulton County District Attorney to complete the term of the previous District Attorney who had died while in office. He would hold that position for the next 31 years and face election opposition only once, during his first election campaign in 1966.

For the next three decades, Lewis Slaton served the people of Fulton County with honor and dedication. He famously hired minorities and women as investigators and assistant district attorneys at a time when, in many places, this was simply unheard of. Mr. Slaton hired Clarence Cooper, now a judge in United States District Court in Atlanta, as the first African-American assistant district attorney in the county (and, likely, the entire state of Georgia) in 1968. By the time he retired, a full 50% of his attorney staff were minorities or

females. Fulton’s current District Attorney Paul Howard worked under Mr. Slaton as an assistant district attorney from 1980 until 1988 and calls him “a true pioneer” in that regard.

Perhaps the two most infamous cases prosecuted by the Office during Mr. Slaton’s term were the “Missing and Murdered Children” case against Wayne Williams and the trial of Marcus Wayne Chenault for the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King’s mother, Alberta, during services at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church. Mr. Slaton personally led both of those successful prosecutions. While some expressed doubts about Williams’ involvement in all two dozen of the murders of young men and boys that rocked the city from 1979 to 1981, Mr. Slaton always stood by his belief that he had got his man.

Lewis Slaton was also a consummate politician—which helps to explain his opposition-free political career. Many staffers recalled his ability to memorize nearly each and every Grand Juror’s name, and his attendance at funerals (both for the famous and the not-so-famous) was legendary. Among his remaining papers are several thick folders, organized by year, filled with nothing but obituaries clipped from newspapers.

But obituaries were hardly the only things Mr. Slaton kept and filed. He was well known for never throwing anything away, keeping everything from the briefest personal correspondence to inscrutable notes scribbled on the backs of torn envelopes. Several large filing cabinets containing his personal effects from the Office attest to the scope of his archiving. Personal schedule books dating back to the 1970s record his daily meetings and appointments. Numerous scrap books contain years of newspaper articles clipped and fastidiously pasted onto pages recording anything and everything related to police, the courts, the Office, local politics, etc. Other file folders bear headings in his own script ranging from “Staff Birthdays” to “Police Exam Cheating Scandal.”

Aside from being an exemplary public servant, Mr. Slaton was extremely active in the community as well. He was a longtime member of Second-Ponce de Leon Baptist Church, the Atlanta Lions Club, the Yaarab Shrine, the American Legion, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He was also instrumental in the establishment of the Eye Bank at Emory University Hospital.

When he announced that he would not seek another term in March of 1996, the community was stunned. Letters of thanks and praise poured in as his retirement date approached. Former Governor Carl Sanders, who had first named him District Attorney, wrote a personal note the day after Mr. Slaton’s announcement to the press. In it, he said, “I want you to know how proud you have made me over the last thirty years and how much credit you have

A gala dinner was held in his honor a few weeks before his final term expired. Nearly 500 people attended, including then-Governor Zell Miller, former Governor Sanders, then-Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell, former Attorney General Griffin Bell, then-U.S. Attorney Kent Alexander, numerous judges, County officials, media personalities, and countless admiring attorneys. Along with proclamations from the City, County, and State, the program book included a letter of thanks from then-President Bill Clinton.

Once all of the dignitaries and speakers had finished praising him, Mr. Slaton took to the podium and made brief remarks in summation of a decades-long career. After a special thanks to Jackie, his beloved wife of many, many years, he thanked his staff, fellow County officials, law enforcement, and his many supporters through the decades. He said, “If I’ve learned anything over the years, it is to follow my instincts of what is right and what is wrong and to consider what justice requires. It also helps to keep a perspective on your work and not take yourself or your profession too seriously…This has been more than a job for me; it’s been my life’s passion.”

He added that, in the law, nothing much is needed other than “common sense, and relatively clean fingernails.”

Lewis Slaton possessed both, and much more.