09 LC
21 0118
House
Resolution 161
By:
Representatives Hugley of the
133rd,
Epps of the
128th,
Benfield of the
85th,
Brooks of the
63rd,
Millar of the
79th,
and others
A
RESOLUTION
Compensating
Mr. John Jerome White; and for other purposes.
WHEREAS,
in 1979, a man forcibly entered the home of a 74 year-old woman in Meriwether
County and robbed, beat, and raped her; and
WHEREAS,
a young man named Mr. John Jerome White was convicted of the crimes, largely on
eyewitness testimony, and sentenced to life in prison; and
WHEREAS,
he was paroled in 1990, but subsequent convictions caused him to be returned to
prison to serve out the life sentence; and
WHEREAS,
DNA tests conducted at the urging of the Georgia Innocence Project led
authorities to identify the actual perpetrator of the crimes, a man with whom
law enforcement was familiar and who was in the lineup at the time the witness
mistakenly identified Mr. White as the perpetrator; and
WHEREAS,
on December 10, 2007, Mr. White was released after his 1979 indictment was
nol-prossed; and
WHEREAS,
Mr. White, now 48 years old, lost almost three decades of his life and is now
the longest serving of the nation's exonerees due to post-conviction DNA
testing; and
WHEREAS,
Mr. White has suffered loss of liberty, personal injury, lost wages, injury to
reputation, emotional distress, and other damages as a result of his 28 years of
incarceration and expenses in trying to prove his innocence totaling $3 million;
and
WHEREAS,
the conviction, incarceration, and subsequent loss of liberty and other damages
occurred through no fault or negligence on the part of Mr. White, and it is only
fitting and proper that he be compensated for his
loss.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA that the Department of Corrections is authorized and directed to pay the sum of $2 million to Mr. John Jerome White as compensation as provided above. Said sum shall be paid from funds appropriated to or available to the Department of Corrections and shall be in full and complete satisfaction of all claims against the state arising out of said occurrence.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA that the Department of Corrections is authorized and directed to pay the sum of $2 million to Mr. John Jerome White as compensation as provided above. Said sum shall be paid from funds appropriated to or available to the Department of Corrections and shall be in full and complete satisfaction of all claims against the state arising out of said occurrence.