By Shannon McCaffrey, The Associated Press, April 2, 2008

ATLANTA - The state Senate on Wednesday voted to provide $1.2 million to a Georgia man who spent almost 22 years in prison for a rape he didn't commit.

But some GOP senators objected to the payout, which would be the fourth to a convict cleared by DNA evidence in Georgia. They said the state wasn't to blame for the time Willie O. "Peter Williams spent behind bars - the rape victim who misidentified him was.

"So did the state make a mistake here or was it the witnesses who fingered the man as the guilty party?" asked state Sen. John Douglas, R-Social Circle.

"Why would it be on the state and not on the people who made the mistake?"

Douglas noted that DNA testing, which ultimately cleared Williams in January 2007, wasn't available when he was convicted in the 1985 rape.

Williams was found guilty of aggravated sodomy, kidnapping and rape and was sentenced to 45 years after a rape victim identified him as the man who attacked her. He was cleared after the Georgia Innocence Project took on his case and had DNA evidence tested.

The Senate voted 40 to 10 on Wednesday to compensate Williams for lost wages and other potential benefits. He had spent nearly half his life behind bars before his release at age 44.

The resolution would require a $100,000 lump sum payment with the remainder of the $1.2 million to be paid out in installments over 20 years.

Seven Georgia convicts have been cleared by DNA evidence. In every case, the men were wrongly convicted based on eyewitness accounts.

Despite that, a House bill sponsored by state Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield, D-Atlanta, which would have provided more training for police when dealing with witness ID procedures failed to move this legislative session.

State Sen. Horacena Tate said that since his release from prison a little over a year ago Williams has been working construction jobs and is studying electronics at an Atlanta technical college.

"He is putting his life back together," the Atlanta Democrat said.

The Senate resolution that passed on Wednesday must return to the House to resolve minor differences.

Payouts to previous convicts cleared by DNA evidence in Georgia have ranged from $500,000 to the $1.2 million, according to Lisa George, spokeswoman for the Georgia Innocence Project.