Man cleared by DNA eager for Christmas in freedom

by Errin Haines, The Associated Press , December 20, 2007

"What was the point in getting excited about it?" he asked.

"You ain't with nobody you really love. But this year, I got a whole lot of reasons," White said as he glanced at his wife of 14 years, Mary, and held her hand.

The holiday came early for the 48-year-old. He was released from Macon State Prison 10 days ago after he was cleared by DNA evidence of a rape he did not commit. Since then, White has already savored a few gifts: a late-night stroll under the moon and stars, fried okra, being able to see his wife for more than six hours at a time.

"We've just been enjoying ourselves, enjoying each other," White said.

White was convicted in 1980 of breaking into a 74-year-old woman's home and raping and robbing her. The woman has since died.

He was sentenced to life in prison, then was paroled in 1990. White was sent back to prison for 2 1/2 years on a drug violation in 1993. A 1997 robbery charge led to a conviction, a seven-year sentence and a requirement that he return to serving his life sentence for the rape conviction.

At the urging of the Georgia Innocence Project, authorities recently tested DNA from hairs found at the scene of the rape - a test that wasn't available in 1979. White is the seventh Georgia convict to be cleared by DNA evidence, and the 210th nationwide.

In all the Georgia cases, the men were wrongly convicted on eyewitness accounts.

The Whites - who met while he was on parole in the early 1990s and married before he was sent back to prison - wore permanent smiles while talking to The Associated Press on Thursday. White reflected on his wrongful conviction, his faith, and his new freedom. He is already a naturally doting husband, pulling out his chair for Mary White and making her as comfortable as possible under the glare of camera lights and gaze of the media.

Rarely dropping her husband's hand, when asked what it's like to have her husband home, Mary White beamed.

"Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful," she said. "At least I did get a chance to touch him before, but the idea of leaving him there gave me that empty feeling."

Now she says she can finally look forward to their future feeling "secure and complete."

"When we first got married, I felt like we were going to be together, but now it's etched in stone," she said. "We definitely are going to be together."

John White said he is eager to get a job, though he hasn't figured out what he might do for a living. Mary White works at a fast food restaurant - the place where she met her husband when he came in for a cup of coffee.

The couple is looking forward to going to the movies, maybe to see Will Smith in "I Am Legend."

John White said having his wife's support has meant a great deal to him, and their shared faith helped him get over the anger he felt over his wrongful conviction.

"I am different," he said. "It's a new beginning. I've matured. I put God first in everything I do now. I don't look at things in a negative way."

He said he has already been to the church that his wife regularly attends, and while he hasn't completely warmed to the idea, "I felt some things when I was there."

Dwelling on his sentence was "a hindrance," John White said.

"I always felt in my heart that God was going to open them doors," he said.

Instead of blaming the justice system - which he said was just doing its job - he simply asserts that "some people made some mistakes."

James Edward Parham, 54, of Manchester, who was on the state's Sex Offender Registry for a 1985 rape conviction, was arrested on Dec. 11 on charges of rape, aggravated assault, burglary and robbery. In an ironic coincidence, Parham had been in the police lineup when the victim picked White as her attacker.

Like a character in the Bible, John White said sometimes people have to go through times of tribulation to become better.

"Certain things are just meant to be," he said. "I felt like I gotta go through this right here. It had to be that."

Now, he said, perhaps his life can serve as an example for others headed down a wayward path.

"I was ignorant back then," he said. "All I knew was I was in some trouble, and I didn't know how to deal with it. Now, I would tell a young person to prepare yourself to take on life."