Best known for solving the murder of tenant farmer Wilson Turner in 1948. Turner was killed by John Wallace, a wealthy and powerful landowner in neighboring Merriwether County. He had allegedly stolen a prize dairy cow from Wallace, and he was caught and jailed, but with the collusion of the Merriwether County sheriff, Wallace had Turner released from jail, then killed him. However, the murder took place in Coweta County, which was Potts' jurisdiction, and he investigated it. He was able to prove Wallace did it, and in the ensuing trial, Wallace was found guilty, sentenced to death and executed. It marked the first time in Georgia history that a white man had been executed for a murder based on the testimony of two black men (Wallace's field hands who he had ordered to move Turner's dead body). The incident was later filmed as
Murder in Coweta County (1983).