In a statement dated April 26^th, 1993, Raymond Daniel Gravitt stated that on the night of April 15^th, 1993 he was driving south on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard. As he passed the muffler shop driveway the rain was extremely heavy; but, as he passed, Mr. Gravitt saw the blue lights of a police car in the driveway flashing off the raindrops. He said they were everywhere.

Mr. Gravitt was in a hurry that night. He was supposed to pick up his daughter who was babysitting at the home of Eddie Robinson, a well-known local businessman, at 10:00 PM. Robinson’s home was located across from North Gwinnett High School. He estimated the home was 5 minutes drive away from the muffler shop, and he was running late.

Gravitt had been interviewed by Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter before the trial, and Porter had apparently manipulated the witness into different, earlier times to support the prosecution’s case. At the beginning of his testimony, when he was asked when he passed the muffler shop going south that night, Gravitt responded as Porter had coached him: between 9:40 and 9:50 PM, and he returned home about 10:05 PM and did not see a police vehicle in the driveway on his return trip. As Porter continued to question Gravitt however, the real times the real times that Gravitt passed the muffler shop driveway became apparent, about 9:57 or 9:58.

Now his testimony was that he arrived at the Robinson home, 5 minutes away from the crime scene, shortly after 10:00 PM. He further testified that he had to wait for a while until the Robinson family returned home. After his daughter joined him, he testified that it would have taken 5 more minutes to pass the muffler shop on the return trip, about 10:15 he said. This was now consistent with his earlier statement to police right after the murder.

Gravitt’s testimony was crucial to the case, not only because of the time constraints involved, but because it established when the police vehicle arrived at the driveway and when the blue lights came on. Porter of course knew this, and he manipulated the testimony of not only this witness, but also that of the previous driver, David McGaha, and of the next three driver witnesses, Allen Robertson, Paul Omodt and Karl Kautter as well as others to support his case.