GEORGIA LEGISLATORS FAIL TO ACT ON
WITNESS IDENTIFICATION ACCURACY MEASURE
ATLANTA -March 12, 2008
The Rules Committee of the Georgia House of Representatives failed to take a vote on House Bill 997, the Witness Identification Accuracy Act, despite unanimous recommendation of the measure more than a month before the deadline. The failure to act before Georgia's legislative "cross-over day" deadline kills the bill for this year.
"What the lawmakers are telling us is that it's just fine with them that more than 80% of our police agencies have no written policy on collecting eyewitness evidence," said the Georgia Innocence Project's Aimee Maxwell. "It may be fine with them, but it's not fine with us, and I'm willing to bet it's not fine with the seven Georgia men who were wrongly convicted because of mistaken eyewitness identification."
The Act, which the House Judiciary Committee unanimously approved in early February, would have required Georgia law enforcement agencies that conduct line-ups to develop written policies on collecting eyewitness evidence and train officers on those policies. An accompanying resolution that also failed to make it out of committee offered best practices on eyewitness evidence collection but did not mandate any particular set of guidelines.
"It was a no-cost solution that could have helped prevent wrongful conviction. And State Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield worked very hard to make sure that everyone -- police and prosecutors -- agreed on the measure," said Maxwell. "If police don't have policies on making IDs, prosecutors are going to face more and more challenges on those IDs in the courtroom. It's a bill that would have benefitted everyone in the justice system."
GEORGIA HOUSE COMMITTEE
GIVES GREEN LIGHT TO EYEWITNESS I.D. MEASURES
ATLANTA - February 6, 2008
The Georgia House Judiciary Committee has unanimously approved the Witness Identification Accuracy Enhancement Act (House Bill 997). In a vote of 10 to 5, the Committee also approved a House Resolution that establishes best practices for law enforcement agencies collecting eyewitness evidence. Both measures now go to the House Rules Committee for its recommendation.
The Act mandates that the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council (POST) establish guidelines and procedures for conducting showups, photographic lineups, and physical lineups. It also calls on the Georgia Public Safety Training Center to develop a comprehensive training program on the procedure and for all Georgia law enforcement agencies that conduct line-ups to develop written policies on collecting eyewitness evidence by January 1, 2009.
The bill is based on work last year by a House Study Committee on Eyewitness Identification, chaired by Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield (D-Decatur). The Committee learned, from a results of a study done by the Georgia Innocence Project (GIP), that more than 80% of Georgia law enforcement agencies currently have no written policy on collecting eyewitness evidence.
Mistaken identification was a leading factor in the wrongful conviction of seven Georgia men who have since been proven innocent by DNA testing. Georgia's most recent DNA exoneree, John Jerome White, spoke to the Study Committee in December, just days after his release from prison. He told legislators that he hoped some action would be taken.
To view GIP's report on its study of Georgia law enforcement agency practices on collecting eyewitness evidence, click here.
To find out what the eyewitness evidence collection policies are in your area, click here to view GIP's data.
--Lisa George, Georgia Innocence Project Communications Director, lisa@ga-innocenceproject.org
To read an editorial on the bill, click here.
GEORGIA MAN PROVEN INNOCENT BY DNA EVIDENCE
IN 28-YEAR-OLD RAPE CASE
TESTING ALSO REVEALS IDENTITY OF NEW SUSPECT
Atlanta – December 11, 2007
DNA test results have ruled out John White as the perpetrator of a rape for which he was convicted in 1980. White, 48, of Manchester, Georgia, has maintained his innocence of the crime for nearly three decades.
Through the efforts of the Georgia Innocence Project (GIP), the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) performed DNA testing that proves Mr. White is innocent of the crime. Mr. White was released from Macon State Prison on the evening of December 10, 2007. Said Mr. White last week when GIP representatives informed him of the results of the DNA test, “It’s hard to express it, but I feel good, relieved.”
Hairs from the crime scene were matched to White during the investigation by microscopic analysis, the best technology available at the time. DNA testing of those hairs has now proven that they do not belong to Mr. White. A GBI comparison of the test results to files in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) reveal the hairs actually belong to another man who is now under investigation.
Mr. White was convicted in Meriwether County of rape, aggravated assault, burglary and robbery for an attack on an elderly woman in her home in August 1979. The court sentenced Mr. White to life in prison. When he was paroled in 1990 as a convicted sex offender, Mr. White’s life began a downward spiral that culminated in convictions for drug possession and robbery, crimes Mr. White admits that he committed. These subsequent convictions caused Mr. White’s parole to be revoked, and he was returned to prison to serve his full life sentence.
Having gone to prison for the rape when he was 20 years old, Mr. White says, “I was raised on the chain gang, and I didn’t know how to make my way once I got out.” Along with Mr. White’s family, the Georgia Innocence Project’s Life After Exoneration program will now work to help him make the transition back to society. Mr. White says, now that he is exonerated of a brutal crime and relieved of the sex offender status he has carried for nearly 30 years, he is determined to rebuild his life.
To read background on the John White case, click here.
To learn more about the issues in the case, click here.
To read John White's initial letter to the Georgia Innocence Project, click here.
To find out how you can help support the work of the Georgia Innocence Project, click here.
To read media coverage on John White's case, please see our Articles page.
--Lisa George, Georgia Innocence Project Communications Director, lisa@ga-innocenceproject.org
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES LAUNCHES STUDY TO IMPROVE ACCURACY OF GEORGIA EYEWITNESS IDENTIFICATION
WHAT: During this past legislative session, the Georgia House of Representatives passed a resolution creating the House Study Committee on Eyewitness Identification Procedures, charged with thoroughly explore Georgia's procedures for eyewitness identification.
WHY: Eyewitness identification is critical to the apprehension and prosecution of criminals. However, mistaken eyewitness identifications are the leading factors in wrongful convictions. Faulty eyewitness identifications caused more than 75% of the 209 wrongful convictions in the United States overturned by DNA evidence. In Georgia, mistaken identification was a primary factor in all six of the convictions that DNA testing proved to be in error. Most recently, DNA evidence proved the innocence of Willie Otis "Pete" Williams, a man who spent more than 21 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
Questionable eyewitness testimony is also at the heart of Georgia Death Row Inmate Troy Anthony Davis’ case. Seven out of nine of the eyewitnesses have recanted their initial testimony that was used more than 15 years ago to convict Davis. The Georgia Supreme Court will consider his case and the issue of eyewitness testimony in November.
WHEN: The final hearing is scheduled for Thursday, December 13, 2007 at 9:00AM.
WHERE: Room 132, State Capitol, Atlanta, Georgia
in the first hearing on September 17, 2007, the Georgia Innocence Project presented a report on how Georgia law enforcement agencies currently collect eyewitness evidence. In the second, on October 1, 2007, law enforcement representatives presented information for and against establishing statewide guidelines on collecting eyewitness evidence. For news stories on the report and the first two hearings, click here.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Lisa George, Georgia Innocence Project: (404) 872-8236
Sara Totonchi, Southern Center for Human Rights: (404) 688-1202
GEORGIA INNOCENCE PROJECT
BEGINS SCREENING ALABAMA CASES Atlanta – July 23, 2007 The Georgia Innocence Project (GIP) is now accepting inquiries from Alabama inmates who may have claims of actual innocence. “There are now more than 200 Americans whom DNA evidence has proven innocent long after their convictions. Alabama is one of only two states not currently served by a regional or state Innocence Project, and we feel that justice in Alabama cannot wait another day,” said Aimee Maxwell, GIP Executive Director. “Five years into the work of the Georgia Innocence Project, we feel we now have the structure in place to assist Alabama inmates.” GIP currently has more than 30 attorney volunteers along with 6-12 law student interns per semester who will help process cases. Since its establishment in 2002, GIP has received more than 3000 requests for its assistance and has taken only 16 Georgia clients. Three of those clients have been exonerated and freed. Clarence Harrison served nearly 18 years in prison before being exonerated in 2004. Robert Clark was behind bars for almost 25 years before DNA testing freed him in late 2005. Pete Williams, exonerated in February 2007, served more than 21 years in prison before testing proved him innocent. In the cases of Clark and Williams, the same testing led police to the true perpetrators of the crimes for which GIP’s clients were wrongly convicted. GIP is assisting all three men in rebuilding their lives through its Life After Exoneration program. GIP is a nonprofit organization founded in August 2002 with the mission to free the wrongly prosecuted through DNA testing, to advance practices that minimize the chances that others suffer the same fate, to educate the public that wrongful convictions are not isolated or rare events, and to help the exonerated rebuild their lives. Alabama inmates may write GIP at 752½ North Highland Avenue, Atlanta, Georgia 30306. GIP investigates only those cases in which DNA evidence not previously tested might prove innocence.
--Lisa George, Georgia Innocence Project Communications Director, lisa@ga-innocenceproject.org
To help support the work of the Georgia Innocence Project, click here.
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