Press Release – July 17, 2020 JUDGE ORDERS NEW TRIAL AFTER TWENTY YEARS FOR MAN CONVICTED IN 1985 DOUBLE MURDER IN RURAL GEORGIA CHURCH Georgia Innocence Project and co-counsel King & Spalding secured a new trial for Dennis Perry after matching DNA recovered from the crime scene in 1985 to an alternate suspect during re-investigation […]
Georgia Supreme Court Rules in Favor of GIP Client Johnny Lee Gates! Johnny Lee Gates has spent 43 years imprisoned for a crime he did not commit; 26 of those years were on death row. Learn more about Mr. Gates’s case here. In 2018, Georgia Innocence Project and our co-counsel at the Southern Center for […]
Georgia Supreme Court Rules in Favor of GIP Client Joey Watkins! Joey Watkins was convicted in 2001 of a murder he did not commit. He was 21 years old and has spent almost 20 years wrongfully imprisoned. Learn more about Joey’s case here, check out this great 11 Alive news clip explaining his innocence, or […]
GIP Client Kerry Robinson Exonerated After Nearly 18 Years in Prison Kerry Robinson Walks Out of Prison a Free Man We are THRILLED to announce the exoneration of Georgia Innocence Project client Kerry Robinson, who was released from prison into the arms of loving family and his legal team on January 8, 2020, after being […]
We have more EXCITING NEWS in the Devonia Inman case! Yesterday, the Georgia Supreme Court rejected the Georgia State Attorney General’s efforts to stop Devonia Inman’s habeas case from proceeding to a hearing on the merits. Additionally, Presiding Justice Nahmias and Chief Justice Melton issued extraordinary concurring opinions reminding prosecutors to “ensure that justice is being […]
In so many post-conviction innocence cases the biggest hurdle we face comes from the State successfully arguing: “Innocence does not matter. You’re too late; you should have brought your claims earlier.” Too often, the criminal legal system denies justice in the interest of finality and maintaining the status quo. We are therefore thrilled to report […]
Last month we shared a two-part update on the Joey Watkins case. Part I detailed Joey’s innocence and how previous decision-makers have turned a blind eye to that fact. Part II explained the background behind Joey’s recent unsuccessful attempt to appeal a 2018 decision dismissing his habeas corpus petition. Though the State is entitled to […]
Last week, in a two-sentence decision, the powers that be again turned a blind eye to Joey Watkins’ quest for justice. Here’s the background. Over fifteen years after Joey’s wrongful imprisonment for the murder of Isaac Dawkins and during an extraordinarily intensive investigation into Joey’s case by the Undisclosed podcast and by the Georgia Innocence […]
Joey Watkins is innocent. You don’t have to take our word for it. Take the word of Dr. Paul Steffes, a well-respected scientist and professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, who has testified in a number of criminal cases as an expert witness for the prosecution – including in the September 2000 hearing that […]
I am thrilled to report that a Muscogee County Court recently ordered that our client Johnny Lee Gates is entitled to a new trial! Mr. Gates is a black man who was convicted by an intentionally all-white jury of the 1976 rape, robbery and murder of a white woman in Columbus, Georgia. He has fought […]