Manchester man exonerated by DNA evidence after 20 years in prison
wants his story to serve as testimony for others

By Kaffie Sledge, The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (free registration required), January 30, 2008

Once upon a time, John White had a smart mouth and a swagger. That was before he was found guilty of rape and sentenced to life in prison.

It all started Sept. 21, 1979, when White was arrested and charged with burglary.

It didn't end until 28 years later, when the Georgia Innocence Project discovered DNA evidence that exonerated White, who said he wants to share his experience with others.

"I was picked up on a burglary charge and during the course of transporting me back to Meriwether County, I was asked some questions, and I answered them in not too wise a way," White said Tuesday on the set of "Public Agenda," a TV show on WLTZ-38 hosted by Gloria Strode and state Sen. Ed Harbison.

GIP is a state chapter of the Innocence Project, which was founded in 1992 at Yeshiva University's law school in New York City. Its mission is to help prisoners prove their innocence through DNA testing. Through the Innocence Project's work, 212 people have been exonerated; fifteen of those had been on death row. Seven, including White, were in Georgia. On average, people exonerated by the project served 12 years in prison.

Detectives asked White questions about the rape of a 74-year-old woman that occurred in the wee hours of Aug. 11, 1979. An intruder broke into the woman's Manchester home while she was asleep on the couch and beat and raped her.

When the crime took place, White said he had a sexually transmitted disease. When asked if he raped the victim, he didn't say "no." Instead, he snapped at police and said, "Well, if I did it, she has a venereal disease."

White said police took his statement as an admission of guilt. And when he got to the county jail, instead of allowing his mother to get him out on bond, his mother was told he was being held without bond on a rape charge.

To make matters worse, White struck a defiant pose during the lineup.

On Sept. 28, 1979, more than six weeks after the rape, the victim picked White out of a photo lineup, saying she was "almost positive" he was her attacker. She later picked White out of a live lineup, according to the GIP Web site.

Sanford Bishop, now the U.S. representative from Georgia's 2nd Congressional District, was White's defense attorney. He made dogged attempts to break the eyewitness testimony, said Lisa George, GIP communications director. However, the jury was looking at a 74-year-old woman who had been so badly injured that a rape kit could not be collected and who was paralyzed as a result of the brutal attack.

"I was sure he was innocent," Bishop said Tuesday from his Washington office. "I was as convinced as a lawyer could be."

On May 30, 1980, White was convicted of the rape. He was sentenced to life for rape plus 40 years for the related crimes of aggravated assault, burglary and robbery. He pleaded guilty to a store burglary and was sentenced to 20 years. White maintained his innocence in the attack and told the judge, "I know I didn't rape that lady."

Trial, conviction

White said what happened to him happened so fast that he didn't know what was going on. Once found guilty, he was immediately removed from court and his family.

It was difficult for his mother, White said.

It was tough on his lawyer, too.

"It was very emotionally draining," Bishop said. "The only thing that gives you any sense of satisfaction at all is knowing you did your best to prove his innocence."

Once in prison, White said he didn't dwell on his innocence because that kind of thinking is counterproductive.

No appeal

White never filed an appeal on the rape or related convictions. He said he didn't even know he was entitled to one.

George said White was released on parole in 1990 as a sex offender. He was arrested again in 1993 for drug possession and served 2 1/2 years. White admits that he was guilty of this crime, as well as the robbery for which he was arrested in 1997. While his sentence on the robbery was seven years, his parole was revoked and he remained in prison on the life sentence stemming from the 1979 rape.

Innocence Project

In October 2004, White responded to a letter sent to all Georgia prisoners convicted of rape. Throughout 2005 and the first half of 2006, GIP interns filed Open Records requests attempting to get copies of files pertinent to the case, George said.

"In June 2006, GIP intern Cliff Williams was assigned the case," the GIP Web site states. "Williams tenaciously pursued this case to locate not only all the necessary files but also the crime scene evidence. In September 2006, Williams learned that the piece of flesh found at the crime scene had been destroyed. However, he continued to pursue the rest of the physical evidence. In March 2007, Williams visited the Meriwether County Clerk's Office and learned that hairs from the crime scene that were admitted at trial were still in its possession."

Free at last

On Dec. 10, 2007, White was released from Macon State Prison. DNA test results had exonerated him. At the same time, they fingered James Edward Parham, who ironically was in the 1979 lineup in which White was identified as the rapist. Eyewitness testimony is involved in more than 80 percent of wrongful convictions, George said.

White called GIP a godsend.

"They are fantastic people."

What's next

Last week White and his wife of some 15 years, Mary, moved from Manchester to Atlanta.

"There are more opportunities in Atlanta," he said.

When asked about restitution, White said he is still trying to come to terms with his freedom. He didn't offer any specifics regarding whether he would pursue restitution.

White said he's glad it's all over and now hopes to get to do some of the things he wants to do.

"Right now I want to do the things that are pleasing to God, and everything else will come natural," he said. "I'm thankful for the experience; it gives me something to give someone else."

Prison shows in the eyes
Opinion by Kaffie Sledge, The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, January 30, 2008

I f you have never been so isolated from all you love and all who love you that you tried to wish yourself out of existence, you might not understand.

If you have never hurt so badly that the pain reached out and suffocated your being and your spirit, you might not understand.

If you have never felt so hopeless that you wondered if God had forsaken you, you might not understand.

You might not understand what I saw when I looked into John White's eyes.

In December, White was freed from state prison after a DNA test showed he was not the man who raped a 74-year-old woman in 1979. White was 19 then and, by his own admission, unwise. The same test that freed him also fingered another man.

White is now 48, handsome and youthfully trim. Tuesday when we met on the set of "Public Agenda," he was much like an old friend -- once he grew accustomed to the situation.

But I observed that when he grew uncomfortable, he seemed to retreat to some other place. And when he did, his expression changed. The boyish smile left his lips and the lights went out in his eyes. White took on the look that first pierced my heart when I saw it in the eyes of Generalow Wilson, the young man whom the Georgia Supreme Court ordered released from prison in October. Wilson was given a mandatory 10-year sentence for receiving consensual oral sex from a 15-year-old girl when he was 17. He had served 32 months and 12 days.

White has been in and out of jail and wrangling with the rape charge for some 28 years.

But I saw the effects of prison in both their eyes. Perhaps we can call it a prison persona.

Prison is no place for the young and the naive. Once incarcerated, guilty or innocent, survival is the bottom line. It's no secret that survival comes with a price. And that price shows up in their eyes.

Prison eyes are combat eyes. They are deep and dark and vigilant. Prison eyes harbor secrets.

"Prison is a negative place... I gave respect. I got respect," White said as he reverted to his prison eyes.

Dwelling on his innocence -- even mentally -- served no purpose, White said.

Staying focused and dealing with "what is" is the key to surviving in prison.

It was sometimes heartbreaking to watch White deal with the emotions surrounding the decisions of his youth and the hurt he caused his family.

"My mother took it hard, real hard... . She cried," he told "Public Agenda" co-hosts Gloria Strode and state Sen. Ed Harbison.

There were also times on the set of the show when White's eyes lit up and he flashed that heart-warming smile: When he talked about his wife, his favorite things and the Georgia Innocence Project, which is responsible for his exoneration.

Because of the Innocence Project, he's now free to spend all the time in the world with his wife. Look at the stars at 4 a.m. And eat fried okra to his heart's content.