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 […]
Remember during Season 2 of Undisclosed how you could listen to Mark Free’s trial audio, but every time the Undisclosed team wanted to quote from Joey’s trial, Susan, Rabia and/or Colin had to read from the trial transcript? That’s because the judge and court reporter in Floyd County refused to release the audio recordings of Joey’s […]
From inadvertent error to reckless conduct to outright disregard for the defendant’s due process rights, prosecutorial misconduct permeates our criminal justice system to an alarming degree. The National Registry of Exonerations recently pointed to a record high number of cases involving government misconduct in 2016 (70 out of 166, or 42%), the most common of […]