In addition to owning and operating Parmer Law, I also serve on the board of directors of Georgia Innocence Project. The attorneys at the Georgia Innocence Project have recently secured the exoneration of two men falsely convicted of crimes they never did.
On January 8, 2020, Kerry Robinson – who served 17 years of a 20-year sentence – was exonerated from his rape conviction and released from prison, after a judge agreed that new analysis of DNA evidence cleared him of the crime.
“Modern DNA technology has further confirmed what we’ve known for a long time: Kerry Robinson is an innocent man,” one of his lawyers, Rodney Zell, said in a news release from the Georgia Innocence Project.
“We are thrilled to see this unjust conviction finally corrected,” said Georgia Innocence Project Executive Director Clare Gilbert. “The factors that led to Kerry Robinson’s conviction – flawed forensics and false testimony from an incentivized cooperator – are present in so many wrongful conviction cases. Our fight continues on behalf of the many innocent men and women who remain imprisoned in Georgia.”
Additionally, Johnny Lee Gates was finally freed on May 15, 2020 after surviving the unimaginable: 43 years in prison from a crime he did not commit (including 26 years on death row). Johnny’s freedom follows a superior court order granting Johnny a new trial and a Georgia Supreme Court opinion affirming that Johnny’s conviction must be vacated due to new, exculpatory DNA evidence of innocence. Johnny entered an agreement with the State, in which he maintained his innocence and the State agreed to his immediate release. He is now home with his family.
For more information on the important work of the Georgia Innocence Project, including how to donate, check out their website.
