Witness cites brain damage, alcohol in Silver Comet killer’s defense

A childhood fall from a tree and decades of alcohol abuse damaged the areas that control anger and impulse in the brain of Silver Comet Trail murderer Michael Ledford, according to an expert.

Dr. Thomas Sacky, a forensic psychiatrist, used pictures taken in an MRI of Ledford’s brain to explain to a Paulding County jury one of the reasons Ledford went “fearless into a rage” when cyclist Jennifer Ewing bit him when he tried to force the 53-year-old Sandy Springs mother to perform oral sex.

“The damage to this part of the brain impairs moral judgment,” Sacky testified.

Ledford was convicted of murdering Ewing after he ambushed her 32 miles into her regular 50-mile ride on the popular trail. The autopsy showed Ewing was stomped and punched dozens of times, crushing her nose, larynx and chest. Her nude and battered body was found the next day on a mound of kudzu 70 feet off the trail.

Assistant District Attorney Tom Cole, through his questioning, tried to challenge the legitimacy of Sacky’s findings.

“What is junk science?” Cole asked.

“I don’t do it,” Sacky responded.

The prosecutor and expert continued to exchange subtle insults throughout the testimony.

At end of his questioning of Sacky, Cole’s final words to the expert were, “me think thou protest too much, doctor.”

“I love Shakespeare,” Sacky responded

The forensic psychiatrist had said during his testimony there was evidence of Ledford’s brain injury soon after the then-9-year-old was taken to the hospital with injuries from falling from the top of a 50-foot tree. Sacky said records showed the young Ledford talked gibberish and wet the bed several times, two signs of brain damage.

The jury that convicted Ledford on Monday of murder, kidnapping, aggravated sodomy, aggravated battery and aggravated assault is now hearing testimony to decide if he should be condemned, sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole or life with the possibility of parole.

Prosecutors called Ewing’s husband, three adult children, sister and mother to describe for the 10 men and two women the void in their lives and their emotional pain since Ewing was killed on July 25, 2006. Several jurors cried as they told their stories.

Ledford’s attorneys have tried to show the jury that he was not responsible for his history of sexual assaults – he spent 10 years in prison for a 1991 rape — and his violent reaction to his pain when Ewing fought him.

Ledford’s lawyers want the jury, when they deliberate his punishment, to consider Ledford’s dysfunctional childhood, a family history of alcoholism, several stays in foster care and frequent moves when his parents could not pay the rent.

Another defense expert — W. Alexander Morton, a professor emeritus in psycho pharmacology at the University of South Carolina — testified earlier Wednesday that Ledford had a “long history of violence when he drinks.”

“I couldn’t find any evidence he had any friends,” Morton said. “Maybe he didn’t have any friends because he drank or he drank because he didn’t have any friends. People don’t like you drinking, so you drink alone.”

Either way, Ledford, 46, was stunted emotionally, still living with his parents.

“He never learned how the world worked, how to interact with people,” Morton said. “He never separated from his family.”