Lita McClinton Sullivan murder: Book examines how class, privilege almost let the husband get away

ATLANTA - Why did it take so long to bring the husband of a murdered Atlanta socialite to justice? A new book examines the death of Lita McClinton Sullivan and how her husband eluded justice for decades.  

Lita McClinton Sullivan was killed in 1987 in a murder-for-hire plot, but it took nearly two decades to convict James Sullivan. 

Author Deb Miller Landau wrote the book "A Devil Went Down to Georgia." She believes Sullivan evaded justice for so long because of his wealth and his skin color. 

The book, "A Devil Went Down to Georgia," explores the murder of Lita McClinton Sullivan and why it took so long to convict her estranged husband, James Sullivan.  (FOX 5)

It was a story that shook Atlanta and shocked the world. "The 1987 murder of Lita McClinton was a massive story at the time," said Miller Landau. "A woman was gunned down in broad daylight in Buckhead, in one of the richest, whitest neighborhoods in Georgia." 

Lita McClinton Sullivan was a socialite from a politically prominent Black Atlanta family. She was going through an ugly divorce with her husband, James Sullivan, a white man from Boston. On Jan. 16, 1987, a judge was set to make a ruling in the case. "A man rang Lita’s doorbell with a white box with a pink ribbon around it. Somebody heard her say, ‘Good morning,’ and the man pulled out a gun and shot her twice," Miller Landau said. 

McClinton died 30 minutes after being shot. James Sullivan was charged five years later, in 1992. The case was dismissed due to lack of evidence. "There are a lot of things that James Sullivan did to point the detectives and subsequent investigators in all sorts of directions to almost put the blame on the victim," Miller Landau said. 

Sullivan fled the country. He was eventually extradited from Thailand and convicted on murder charges in 2006, 19 years after McClinton’s death. 

"Why did it take so long to bring him to justice? I think that’s a great question," Miller Landau said. 

Miller Landau covered the story for Atlanta Magazine in 2004. She says Sullivan was able to elude punishment for decades in large part due to class and privilege. "We have a long history of giving wealthy white men the benefit of the doubt in a way we don’t extend to other parts of the population. We also give Black women or women of color so much less of the benefit of the doubt," Miller Landau said Monday night at the Atlanta History Center. "It’s important to look at people of violent crime to just as victims, but as humans, people who are part of our communities and part of our lives." 

Sullivan is serving life without parole at Macon State Prison. Convicted trigger man Phillip Harwood was released in 2018 after serving a 20-year sentence.