A grieving mother charged with murder a day after the death of her newborn. A man found guilty of rape after a co-defendant falsely implicated him. And a man convicted of double murder despite having an alibi and no physical evidence linking him to the crime.
Advocates for both states told state lawmakers during a hearing Thursday in the Georgia Capitol that they were wrongly convicted and should be compensated by the state. It was just one step in a process that critics say is difficult to navigate, too subjective, and inconsistent.
However, efforts are being made to streamline and improve the process by establishing a specialized review body for such claims and providing precise criteria for reviewing and awarding compensation.
Currently, a legislature must support a decision on an individual’s right to compensation for a wrongful conviction. This claim will be submitted to the State Claims Advisory Board, which is chaired by the Secretary of State and which includes commissioners from the Departments of Human Services, Corrections, and Transportation. The board determines whether the state agency named in the complaint—usually the Department of Corrections—is at fault, not whether the conviction was wrongful.
The board then makes a recommendation to the general assembly, where the legislature decides whether the person deserves compensation and, if so, how much. The process involves multiple hearings in committees and a full-chamber vote in both the House and Senate to pass legislation that is essentially customized for the individual seeking compensation.
Lawmakers have many important issues to consider during the 40-day session each year, which means even really compelling compensation cases can fall through the cracks, said Hayden Davis of the Georgia Innocence Project, which is pushing the review panel’s bill.
“It’s far more efficient to have a panel of experts that’s really well equipped to understand the complexities of these cases, make sound judgments, and take them off the legislature’s plate,” Davis said.
Pending legislation, HB 1354, would create a five-person body: a judge to preside over offenses; a prosecutor; a criminal defense attorney; and two people with expertise in wrongful convictions, who may be attorneys, forensic scientists, or law professors.
The bipartisan bill sets out precise criteria for eligibility for compensation, including proving innocence by a preponderance of evidence, meaning it’s more likely than not.
If the individual is deemed eligible, the panel would determine an amount of compensation ranging from $50,000 to $100,000 for each year of wrongful imprisonment, plus certain legal costs.
The review panel’s recommendation would be sent to the Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court, and the amount would come from the judiciary’s budget.
Georgia is one of 13 states that currently don’t have a wrongful conviction compensation law, according to attorneys. People who serve years behind bars on false convictions are being cheated out of time with friends and family and opportunities for professional training and advancement, said Rep. Scott Holcomb, an Atlanta Democrat and sponsor of the pending bill. They also miss out on years of money-making and saving, and often suffer negative health effects, he said.
“All of these things have to be considered,” he said. “We can’t really compensate anyone for these terrible mistakes, but we have to do something.”
Ashley Jordan – then known by her married name Ashley Debelbot – was 24 years old in 2008 when she gave birth to a baby girl, McKenzy. The baby died within days, and her parents were charged with murder almost immediately. They served 12 years in prison before the Georgia Supreme Court overturned their convictions in 2020.
The couple’s lawyers presented complicated medical evidence showing the baby suffered a stroke in utero and sustained further injuries during childbirth. A new district attorney looked at the evidence and last year asked a judge to dismiss the case.
“At 24, she’s lost what most would take for everything,” said state Rep. Carolyn Hugley during Thursday’s hearing on Jordan as she pleaded for compensation. “She lost her first and only child, she lost her freedom, and as a result of 12 years of incarceration, the marriage did not survive.”
Albert Debelbot, the baby’s father, has also filed a lawsuit for compensation, but not in time for consideration by lawmakers this year.
One of three men who committed a brutal rape in 1993 implicated Kerry Robinson as one of the other involved. Robinson was serving more than 17 years of a 20-year sentence before DNA evidence, retested using modern technology, proved the DNA analysis presented at his trial was inaccurate.
“Mr. Robinson suffered. The system has failed,” Holcomb told colleagues on Thursday.
Dennis Perry was convicted of murder nearly two decades after the 1985 killing of a couple in a church. He had spent more than 20 years behind bars when a judge dismissed the case against him after DNA evidence pointed to another suspect.
Philip Green, an attorney for Perry, told lawmakers his client deserved compensation because misconduct by prosecutors and investigators resulted in “a horrific miscarriage of justice that absolutely devastated one man’s life.”
The House Subcommittee approved compensation of $60,000 for each year of imprisonment in each of these three cases. However, several hearings and votes in committee are still pending before final approval.