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Georgia man to be compensated for 24 years of wrongful incarceration
Posted: May 25, 2007
Robert Clark was exonerated in 2005 after serving more than half of his life in prison for a 1981 rape he didn’t commit. Yesterday, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue signed a bill into law that grants Clark $1.2 million in compensation for the injustice he suffered. The bill was approved by Georgia lawmakers on March 19.
"I think his reaction is going to be a gigantic smile," said Aimee Maxwell of the Georgia Innocence Project, which helped clear Clark. "And I think he will be relieved that the process has reached its successful conclusion."Associated Press: Perdue signs bills, compensates man freed through DNA
Read the full story here. (Atlanta Journal Constitution, 5/24/07)
Georgia does not have a general state law for compensating the wrongly convicted and this bill only applies to Clark. Perdue has said that the state should create standards for compensation of all wrongly convicted people.
- Read more about Clark's case.
- Read more about efforts to pass state compensation laws.
Tags: Georgia, Robert Clark, Exoneree Compensation
Georgia hearings on eyewitness identification start this week
Posted: September 18, 2007 10:09 am
A new committee of the Georgia legislature began hearing testimony yesterday on proposed state laws governing eyewitness identification procedures. Georgia Innocence Project Director Aimee Maxwell testified, as well as Innocence Project client Calvin Johnson, Jr., who was misidentified by an eyewitness and wrongfully convicted of a crime he didn’t commit.
More than 80 percent of Georgia police departments responding to a recent survey said they had no written standards for eyewitness identifications. One of the first steps to statewide identification reform is to adopt written policies following accepted procedures.
Read more: Most Georgia police have no eyewitness guidelines (Associated Press, 09/17/07)
Men freed from jail urge change in eyewitness IDs (Atlanta Journal Constitution, 09/18/07)
For the hearing schedule and more background on the new committee, visit the Georgia Innocence Project’s website.
In addition to Calvin Johnson, other Georgia exonerees will be present at today’s hearing. Read more about their cases here.
Watch video of a speech by Calvin Johnson, Jr. and an interview with Georgia exoneree Robert Clark.
Tags: Georgia, Robert Clark, Calvin Johnson, Eyewitness Identification
Three Years of Freedom for Georgia Man
Posted: December 10, 2008 5:17 pm
Robert Clark spent nearly a quarter of a century in Georgia prisons for a rape he did not commit. Three years ago this week, he was exonerated and released from prison based on DNA testing proving that another man was the perpetrator. (Left, Clark on the day of his exoneration, with Innocence Project Staff Attorney Vanessa Potkin)
Since the day of his arrest, Clark maintained his innocence. He was arrested one week after a woman was abducted and raped in Atlanta. Clark was arrested after he was spotted driving the victim's car. He was initially not a suspect because he didn’t match the description of the perpetrator. The victim had said the attacker was 5’7”; Clark is 6’2”. He was included in a photo lineup and a subsequent live lineup, however, and the victim chose him as the perpetrator. Clark was the only person included in both the photo and live lineups.
During the trial, the victim testified there was no doubt in her mind Clark was her attacker, saying, "I will never forget the face, the skin color, and his voice." Clark said he had borrowed the car from his friend Tony Arnold, but police never followed the lead. Clark was convicted and sentenced to two life terms plus 20 years.
Twenty-one years after Clark was convicted, the Innocence Project was able to secure court-ordered DNA testing on biological evidence collected from the victim’s body after the attack. The test results showed that Clark could not have been a source of the sperm cells found on the victim. Furthermore, prosecutors searched state and federal DNA databases of convicted felons. The DNA profile taken from the rape kit matched Tony Arnold, who was serving time for an unrelated conviction. Upon Clark's exoneration, Arnold was charged with the rape for which Clark had been wrongfully convicted.
In 2007, Clark received $1.2 million in state compensation, in individual legislation written specifically for him. Georgia is still one of 25 states without a law compensating the wrongfully convicted upon release.
Today, Clark has a steady job, owns an apartment and says that support from his community and the Innocence Project Exoneree Fund helped him get on his feet: "People have been very supportive. They've donated money, gifts, sent letters. I appreciated that a lot. I say thank you and God bless you and show my appreciation by trying to do what is right."
Learn more about the Innocence Project’s proposed reforms to eyewitness identification procedures to prevent wrongful convictions like Robert Clark’s.
Watch a video interview with Clark here.
Other exoneration anniversaries this week:
Timothy Durham, Oklahoma (Served 3.5 years, Exonerated 1997)
Alejandro Hernandez, Illinois (Served 10.5 years, Exonerated 1995)
Richard Alexander, Indiana (Served 5.5 Years, Exonerated 2001)
Kerry Kotler, New York (Served 10.5 years, Exonerated 1992)
James O'Donnell, New York, (Served 2 Years, Exonerated 2000)
Marlon Pendleton, IL (Served 10 years, Exonerated 2006)
Billy James Smith, Texas (Served 19 Years, Exonerated 2006)
John Jerome White, Georgia (Served 10-22.5 Years, Exonerated 2007)
Nicholas Yarris, Pennsylvania, (Served 21.5 Years, Exonerated 2003)
Tags: Robert Clark