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House Appropriations Committee approves compensation resolutions for four exonerees
Summary
The House Appropriations Committee voted to approve four House resolutions offering compensation to people later exonerated after convictions tied to flawed investigations and testimony; the resolutions were passed by voice vote and sponsors recounted details of the cases during the meeting.
The House Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved four resolutions to compensate people who were later exonerated, committee members said during a brief meeting.
Representative Stacy Evans, the sponsor for two of the measures, said HR 119 would compensate Mario Stinchcomb, "the first exoneration by the Fulton Conviction Integrity Unit," and that "he shot in self defense." Evans said Stinchcomb spent 18 years in prison before his exoneration and asked the committee to grant compensation under the resolution.
The committee also advanced HR 118 to compensate Michael Wolfolk, who Evans said was a co-defendant in the same incident as Stinchcomb and was later exonerated by the Fulton Conviction Integrity Unit.
In separate presentations, Chairman Dempsey described two other cases. He said House Resolution 129 concerns Daryl Lee Clark, who was 17 at the time of the offense and whose case, the chairman said, involved alleged manufactured evidence, a coerced witness and failures to provide appropriate interpreter services for a deaf and learning-impaired witness. "The dollar amount will never compensate the years that were lost for Mister Clark," Dempsey said, noting the resolution previously passed the full House by a vote of 162–2.
Dempsey said House Resolution 128 concerns Joseph ("Joey") Samuel Watkins, who was 18 at the time of the incident. The chairman described juror misconduct and what he characterized as false testimony by a Georgia Bureau of Investigation analyst about forensic evidence, including a bullet allegedly recovered from a dog near the victim's grave.
Committee members moved and seconded each measure and approved them by voice vote; the meeting record did not show a roll-call tally for the committee votes. The committee record indicates HR 129 and HR 128 previously passed on the House floor, each by a 162–2 vote, according to remarks made during the meeting.
Evans noted that both Stinchcomb and Wolfolk had appeared at earlier subcommittee hearings and that both men work as truck drivers and attend when they are able. Sponsors and the chairman framed the resolutions as an attempt to provide compensation after what they described as wrongful convictions tied to investigative or trial errors.
No amendments or changes to the resolutions were recorded during the committee session, and no dissenting committee roll-call votes were recorded in the transcript. The committee adjourned after the votes.
The measures advanced by the committee are House Resolution 119 (Mario Stinchcomb), House Resolution 118 (Michael Wolfolk), House Resolution 129 (Daryl Lee Clark) and House Resolution 128 (Joseph "Joey" Samuel Watkins).
