Latest news with #GeorgiaInnocenceProject
Los Angeles Times
06-04-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Georgia bill would compensate the wrongfully convicted — and let Trump recover costs of election case
ATLANTA — A revived attempt to fix Georgia's inefficient system for compensating people wrongfully convicted of crimes almost died. Then it got tacked onto a bill that could compensate President Trump and more than a dozen co-defendants for attorneys' fees after they were indicted for attempting to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state. The combined bill, Senate Bill 244, won final approval Friday, the last day of Georgia's legislative session. If Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signs it, it would let criminal defendants recoup attorneys' fees and related costs in cases where a prosecutor gets disqualified and the case is dismissed. It would also establish a state law requiring an administrative law judge to award $75,000 per year of incarceration to people who have been found wrongfully convicted if they prove they are innocent of the crime or any lesser offense. Georgia is one of 12 states without a law compensating people wrongfully convicted of crimes, according to an analysis by the Georgia Innocence Project. Instead, a lawmaker must sponsor a measure to compensate people and get legislative approval — a process plagued by politics that often leaves people without money, including five who tried this year. The original half of the bill has a different backstory. Trump and 18 co-defendants were indicted in Fulton County in August 2023. Fulton County Dist. Atty. Fani Willis was disqualified from the case by a state appeals court for reasons related to a romantic relationship she had with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom Willis had hired to lead the case. This is what led state Sen. Brandon Beach, a Republican, to bring forward the measure. Beach, a longtime Trump supporter whom the president recently named treasurer of the United States, has argued that the indictment was politically motivated. The measure passed the Senate 35 to 18, and by a 103-61 vote in the House, with all Republicans voting yes. The three highest-ranking Democrats in the two legislative bodies crossed over to vote yes — House Minority Leader Harold Jones II, Senate Democratic Caucus Chair Elena Parent and House Democratic Whip Kim Jackson. But many Democrats were not on board. 'I understand some people have allegiance to the president and some people voted for him, and that's their right. But do not force my constituents to pay his legal fees,' Democratic Sen. RaShaun Kemp said. Democratic Rep. Shea Roberts on Wednesday called the bill a 'disgusting display of punitive politics.' 'It puts legislators and voters in a moral straitjacket,' Roberts said. 'If you want to support justice for the wrongfully convicted, you also have to support protecting powerful politicians from accountability. That's not leadership, that's hostage-taking.' The bill's passage came the day after Republican Senate Majority Whip Randy Robertson held a four-hour committee meeting at 6 a.m. on a measure to compensate five people whose convictions were overturned after years of incarceration. By then, it was too late for that proposal to get a vote. Robertson, a former sheriff's deputy, has been the leading opponent against past measures to compensate people and to establish a law to let legal experts make that decision instead of legislators. People seeking compensation this year have had convictions overturned based on findings such as DNA evidence, legal and police errors and the discovery of new evidence indicating they did not commit the crime they were incarcerated for. But Robertson said people found wrongfully convicted aren't necessarily innocent because convictions may be overturned due to technical errors. He also had doubts about whether some of the people seeking compensation this year were innocent. Still, he said the current method is flawed, and he decided to support this year's bill to take the compensation process out of the Legislature's hand. Republican sponsor state Rep. Katie Dempsey said the bill will let the wrongfully convicted 'have a true chance that is not a retrial from legislators.' Democratic Rep. Scott Holcomb, who has championed the compensation bill for years, begged Democrats in both chambers to vote for a measure he called one of the few 'incredibly consequential' bills he worked on. 'There isn't a person alive who would trade the money that these individuals are receiving for what happened to them in terms of being locked up in our state's prisons, for usually decades of their lives, for something they didn't do,' he said Friday. Kramon writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Jeff Amy contributed to this report.
The Independent
15-03-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Compensating people who are wrongfully convicted is a hard sell in some states
Earlier this year, Michael Woolfolk attended a legislative committee in Georgia where lawmakers considered for a third year whether to compensate the 45-year-old for the 19 years he spent behind bars for a 2002 killing before charges against him were dismissed. Behind him sat Daryl Lee Clark, also 45, who spent 25 years in prison for a 1998 murder conviction that was vacated over a series of legal and police errors. It was his second attempt to obtain compensation. Georgia is one of 11 states with no law on compensating people found to have been wrongfully convicted. Individuals seeking compensation take their cases to the legislature, where they seek a lawmaker to sponsor a resolution to pay them. Critics say it mires the process in politics. Lawmakers have been considering legislation to move the decision to judges, but now it's unclear if that will pass this year. 'We need to take care simply of people who have lost so many years of their lives and their ability to make money, have a job, have a family, create stability,' Republican Rep. Katie Dempsey, a sponsor of the Georgia bill, told The Associated Press. 'Many are at the age where they would be looking at their savings, and instead, there's none.' Missouri lawmakers have sent the governor a bill updating the state's compensation law, and legislatures in Florida and Oregon also are considering updates of their laws. Montana is considering an update of its expired program and Pennsylvania is among those, like Georgia, looking to create one. A tricky process Of the 1,739 people who have filed wrongful compensation claims under state laws since 1989, 1,328 received compensation, according to data from George Washington University law professor Jeffrey Gutman. That doesn't include cases in states like Georgia, which has no law outlining a process. Since 1995, 12 Georgians have received compensation and at least 11 more have sought it, according to the Georgia Innocence Project. Even some people with strong cases were turned down because they failed to convince lawmakers they were innocent, advocates say. The latest version of Georgia's proposal would require individuals to prove their innocence to an administrative law judge. They could receive $75,000 for each year of incarceration and reimbursement for other costs such as fines and fees. There would be an additional $25,000 for each year of incarceration awaiting a death sentence. 'The way that the state has treated these individuals by taking away their freedom and liberty and effectively ruining their lives, by wrongfully convicting them and then failing to expeditiously compensate them and help them get back on their feet, doesn't sit well with me,' said Democratic Rep. Scott Holcomb, a bill sponsor and former prosecutor. Whether a person was released based on a finding they were not guilty or based on trial or law enforcement error is often a sticking point. Advocates say those wrongfully convicted deserve compensation either way because they are innocent until proven guilty, but some lawmakers are hesitant to pay them. Senate Majority Whip Randy Robertson, a former sheriff's deputy, was the lead opponent last year of individual requests for compensation and an effort to pass a compensation law. He takes issue with the term 'exonerated,' which he says is too often used in cases where convictions are overturned based on trial errors. Robertson this year introduced a different compensation bill with stricter rules that didn't get a hearing. Other states consider changes Florida is the only state that prevents exonerees with previous felony convictions from qualifying for compensation, according to an analysis by the advocacy group The Innocence Project. Florida Republican state Sen. Jennifer Bradley wants to change that. For the third year she is sponsoring a bill to end the rule, arguing that an unrelated charge should not prevent people who were wronged by the state from being compensated for their 'lost liberty.' A bill in the Oregon Legislature would update a law passed in 2022 that provides exonerees $65,000 for each year they were wrongfully imprisoned, on the condition they file a successful petition proving their innocence. The new bill comes amid criticism that few exonerees have received compensation since the law took effect. Missouri's legislature recently passed and sent to the governor a measure expanding a restitution program for people wrongly convicted of felonies. The legislation would raise compensation from $100 to $179 per day of imprisonment and remove a requirement that innocence is proven by DNA analysis. Many Georgia lawmakers have said they don't want to play judge and hope the state process changes. If the legislature doesn't pass a bill before adjourning April 4, Woolfolk and Clark may not be compensated this year. The House overwhelmingly approved five requests that could fail in the Senate. Starting a career at 45 is hard, Woolfolk said, and he missed his children's upbringing. He said he is sick of trying to convince lawmakers to help him. Clark, who does not have children, got a standing ovation from House lawmakers last year who voted to compensate him. This year, his 'hope and prayers" are that he also gains some help. ___ Associated Press reporters Kate Payne in Tallahassee, Florida, Claire Rush in Portland, Oregon, and David A. Lieb in Jefferson City, Missouri, contributed to this report. ___
