Another innocent man released from prison in Georgia

Yet another man wrongfully convicted on the basis of eyewitness testimony was released from a Georgia prison this week. John White was convicted in 1980 of raping a 74 year old woman in West Georgia. The Athens Banner-Herald has the story.

The dedicated criminal defense lawyers at the Georgia Innocence Project did it again. I am proud to be a founding member and supporter of this group. Here is a portion of their press release:

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.

This is the seventh person released from Georgia prisons on the basis of DNA testing. Every single one of them were convicted after being identified by an eyewitness who was “certain” that they did it. I discussed the problems with eyewitness identification in an earlier post, and we are hoping for some legislative reforms in Georgia this year.

I am always excited to hear about these cases, but it also disturbs me. I know that most inmates who were convicted on the basis of eyewitness identification do not have access to DNA evidence to prove their innocence. There is no way to know just how many innocent people are serving time right now for crimes they did not commit.

At least there’s one less innocent person in prison tonight. Congratulations to the Georgia Innocence Project, and best wishes to Mr. White.