Georgia man to be compensated for 24 years of wrongful incarceration

Robert Clark was exonerated in 2005 after serving more than half of his life in prison for a 1981 rape he didn’t commit. Yesterday, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue signed a bill into law that grants Clark $1.2 million in compensation for the injustice he suffered. The bill was approved by Georgia lawmakers on March 19.

"I think his reaction is going to be a gigantic smile," said Aimee Maxwell of the Georgia Innocence Project, which helped clear Clark. "And I think he will be relieved that the process has reached its successful conclusion."

Read the full story here

. (Atlanta Journal Constitution, 5/24/07)

Associated Press:

Perdue signs bills, compensates man freed through DNA

Georgia does not have a general state law for compensating the wrongly convicted and this bill only applies to Clark. Perdue has said that the state should create standards for compensation of all wrongly convicted people.

• Read more about
  
  Clark's case
  
  .
• Read more about efforts to pass
  
  state compensation laws
  
  .

The Innocence Project today added a

video interview with Robert Clark

to our

YouTube page

. View the video here, along with other interviews and footage from recent Innocence Project events.