Men freed by DNA wait for compensation

By Carlos Campos, Bill Torpy, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, January 27, 2007

The state should pay Willie O. "Pete" Williams for nearly 22 years he spent in prison for a rape he did not commit, House Speaker Glenn Richardson said Friday.

But when, or how much, Williams will get paid is unknown. Other men exonerated by DNA evidence in Georgia are still waiting for their payday from years wasted in prison.

Photo by Bita Honarvar/ Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Willie O. Williams spent almost 22 years in jail for a crime he did not commit. House Speaker Glenn Richardson wants him compensated.

"This is a lot of taxpayer money. But if we made a mistake and we've incarcerated him and ruined his life, we ought to be willing to step up and ... provide compensation."

Six Georgians' convictions have been overturned after post-conviction DNA evidence. Just two have been compensated by the state: Calvin Johnson, the first man exonerated in Georgia in 1999, received $500,000; and Clarence Harrison got $1 million, to be paid over 20 years. Johnson spent 16 years in prison and Harrison, 17.

On Friday, a resolution was introduced in the House seeking to compensate Robert Clark, a man exonerated by DNA evidence in 2005 who spent more than 23 years in Georgia prisons. Clark would get $1.2 million over 15 years.

Such compensation requests must first go to the state Claims Advisory Board, which recommends to lawmakers how much or if the state should pay for its negligent acts. Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield (D-Atlanta) filed a bill in 2005 to set a fixed compensation amount for wrongfully convicted people, but it died. Richardson said Friday he opposes fixed compensation.

"We're not going to have an iron-clad policy," Richardson said. "We're going to take them on a case-by-case basis."

Still, he expressed shock and frustration people could spend so much time in prison on a wrongful conviction.

"I said to my wife just last night, 'This just drives me crazy,' " said Richardson, a Paulding County lawyer who has done criminal defense work. "That a person could look at a man and say 'That is the man; he raped me' and that a jury could listen to the evidence and say 'Beyond a reasonable doubt that is the man that raped this woman,' and therefore, the judge says 'You're going to prison' — only to find through scientific evidence that is not the man. [This] causes me great concern for our process."

Aimee Maxwell, director of the Georgia Innocence Project, said there is no way to financially reimburse a person for such a wrong.

"The money is not to pay them for their time," Maxwell said. "It gives them a leg up. People in the public want them to get something."

She said the exonerated have needs other than money — job skills, medical care, counseling.

Samuel Scott, a Savannah man released in 2002 after nearly 16 years in prison on a rape conviction, said he sometimes wakes up at night still thinking he's in prison. Recently he got out of bed and stood there, waiting for a guard to do "the count."

He said the conviction, which was reversed, still hangs over him and has hurt him in job opportunities. "Doors still close in my face," he said Friday.

Scott, who is now 50, was convicted in 1986 with Douglas Echols of a rape. But neither man has been reimbursed because Chatham County prosecutors still claim the DNA evidence doesn't necessarily clear them.

A judge vacated Scott's and Echols' convictions after DNA tests showed sperm inside a victim did not belong to the men. But David Lock, chief assistant district attorney, said the office chose not to retry them because of the time served and the age of the case. He said a condom was found at the scene and if the defendants used condoms, their DNA would not be in the victim.

"It's called an exoneration by the Innocence Project but not by us," Lock said. "I don't believe this is a case for compensation."

In 2005, Scott sought $1.2 million and Echols $1.6 million. But the payments never materialized after legislators heard resistance from the prosecutors.

State Rep. Al Williams (D-Midway), chairman of the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus, will again try to submit a resolution on Scott's behalf.

Told the prosecutors do not believe Scott is innocent, Williams responded: "On the other hand, guilty doesn't necessarily mean guilty."