How much compensation should a wrongfully convicted person receive in Georgia?

• Maggie Lee
• State Rep. Carolyn Hugley, D-Columbus, wants to streamline and standardize compensation for wrongfully convicted Georgians.

Georgia’s House minority whip says it’s time to standardize the way wrongfully convicted Georgians are compensated and replace the mix of conditions and payouts that can be a battle to wrangle out of the state Legislature.

“There are some members of the General Assembly who don’t feel that people should be compensated and I think part of that is because we have no parameters” on compensation, said state Rep. Carolyn Hugley, D-Columbus, after the Wednesday inaugural meeting of the House Study Committee on Compensating Wrongfully Convicted Persons. Hugley chairs the committee.

It took two years to pass $400,000 in compensation for the nearly 12 years Lathan Word spent wrongfully imprisoned for robbery. The exoneration came when the sole witness to the alleged crime recanted, blaming police pressure to make him cough up a name. Hugley carried the successful 2013 legislation.

Calvin Johnson’s 16 years of false imprisonment were worth about $31,000 each, the Legislature decided in 2000. Five years later, Clarence Harrison was awarded about $56,000 for each of the nearly 18 years he wrongfully spent in prison. John White racked up some $3 million in legal fees in his ultimately successful exoneration on a rape conviction. In 2009, the Legislature approved $500,000 for White’s wrongful imprisonment of 28 years. But it comes with a hitch: White must submit to random drug tests and be employed, looking for employment or volunteering.

Legislator opinion shaped the vagaries of each compensation package. Before DNA absolved White of rape, he spent 10 years in prison, won parole, then actually did commit crimes and lost parole. Word’s compensation was based on the Marine Corps pay scale, as he was arrested a few days before he was to report for duty. Also, he was cleared by a court, not by iron-clad DNA evidence. The other cases were DNA-based and did not involve any alleged fault by the prosecutor or other officials.

“I think the toughest case is where you have a witness want to recant,” said attorney and state Rep. BJ Pak, R-Lilburn, a committee member.

Pak listed several scenarios offhand that the committee might consider in writing the rules, like what if someone has plead guilty, or if prosecutors mishandled a case.

“We’re talking about somebody’s life so we should try and get it as perfect as possible,” said Pak.

Such a standard is what Hugley and the committee are charged with writing.

“So that … when these issues come up, it wont be a question of, “I don’t think we owe them anything, the state was not at fault,’” said Hugley.

Instead, there would be a rule or law to consult, streamlining such cases.

A total of 29 states plus the District of Columbia have some compensation guidelines on their books, said Aimee Maxwell, executive director of the Georgia Innocence Project.

The most “forward thinking” of those is Texas, Maxwell said. Compensation there is $80,000 upfront plus $80,000 for each year of wrongful time served, as well as counseling, health care, and a scholarship to college or technical school.

“I tell folks that’s really the hardest part of their life is trying to figure out how to rebuild their life” upon release, said Maxwell. “It is hard to get a job. It is hard to have the skills to keep your job.”

The next committee meeting is scheduled Sept. 16.