--- title: HR 129. Clark, Mr. Daryl Lee; compensate collection: bills id: 2025-2026/hr129 cite_as: HR 129, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr129 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr129.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr129/text source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/69780 date: 2025-04-04 status: introduced corpus_version: bills-2026-08-28 license: Public record of the Georgia General Assembly, via LegiScan; see about.md publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice. up: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026.md previous: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr128.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr130.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md omitted: votes and history omitted_chars: 235 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr129.md?full=1 bill_number: HR 129 session: 2025-2026 Regular Session session_slug: 2025-2026 chamber: House bill_type: resolution status_date: 2025-02-03 last_action: House Withdrawn, Recommitted sponsors: - Katie Dempsey - Matt Barton - Eddie Lumsden text_version: Introduced has_text: true legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/HR129/2025 upstream_id: 1952869 summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 topic_tags: - wrongful conviction compensation - Georgia Innocence Project - criminal justice reform - Floyd County - exoneration --- # HR 129. Clark, Mr. Daryl Lee; compensate ## Text 25 LC 60 0052 House Resolution 129 By: Representatives Dempsey of the 13th, Barton of the 5th, and Lumsden of the 12th A RESOLUTION Compensating Mr. Daryl Lee Clark; and for other purposes.1 WHEREAS, on October 18, 1996, fifteen-year-old Brian Bowling tr agically lost his life2 while playing "Russian Roulette" with his friend, seventeen-year-old Cain Joshua Storey, in3 the bedroom of Mr. Bowling's home in Floyd County, Georgia; and4 WHEREAS, despite compelling evidence that Mr. Bowling's death was self-inflicted and the5 absence of evidence demonstrating that Mr. Bowling's death was a homicide, Floyd County6 law enforcement began to investigate Mr. Bowling's death as a homicide after members of7 the Bowling family exerted pressure on law enforcement to do so; and8 WHEREAS, several months later, seventeen-year-old Daryl Lee Clark, an acquaintance of9 Mr. Bowling, was arrested, and both he and Mr. Storey were charged with the murder and10 conspiracy to commit the murder of Mr. Bowling; and11 WHEREAS, Mr. Clark repeatedly and unwaveringly maintained his innocence and the only12 evidence against Mr. Clark came through two witnesses at trial, who were both improperly13 influenced by law enforcement and ultimately determined to be unreliable; and14 H. R. 129 - 1 - 25 LC 60 0052 WHEREAS, one of the State's two key witnesses was Angela Bruce, who claimed that during15 a party at her home after Mr. Bowling's death, she heard Mr. St orey say he had shot and16 killed Mr. Bowling, and heard Mr. Clark say he was present at the time of the shooting; and17 WHEREAS, the second of the State's two key witnesses was Charlie Childers, a functionally18 illiterate and severely hearing and speech impaired man with li mited and unique sign19 language skills, whose trial communications were presented through a standard sign language20 interpreter and then supplemented with assertions made by a Floyd County Police detective,21 leaving the jury with information that Mr. Childers had seen a person named "Daryl" flee22 from Mr. Bowling's yard immediately after the shooting, and that Mr. Childers had identified23 Mr. Clark in a police photo lineup; and24 WHEREAS, on January 19, 1998, Mr. Clark and Mr. Storey were both convicted of murder25 and conspiracy to commit murder and sentenced to life imprisonment; and26 WHEREAS, in late 2021 during an independent investigation, it c ame to light that police27 suppressed and failed to turn over evidence that, though they h ad spoken to other party28 guests, not a single person confirmed Ms. Bruce's story; and in late 2021, Ms. Bruce admitted29 for the first time to reporters and the Georgia Innocence Proje ct that her incriminating30 testimony concerning Mr. Clark's and Mr. Storey's admissions wa s false and made under31 duress at the hands of law enforcement, who threatened to take away her children and had32 shared their plan with the Bowling family; and33 WHEREAS, the independent investigation further established for the first time that Mr.34 Childers's translator at Mr. Clark's trial later questioned the accuracy of her own translation35 of Mr. Childers's testimony, and regretted providing the transl ation at trial, because Mr.36 Childers's manner of communication was not standard American Sign Language, but instead37 H. R. 129 - 2 - 25 LC 60 0052 a communication method unique to Mr. Childers and his former teacher (an ASL expert who38 knew and understood Mr. Childers's unique communication method, having worked with him39 from the time he has been a child); and40 WHEREAS, through interpretation by a new translator (his former teacher) in 2021, it was41 made clear for the first time that Mr. Childers had never ident ified Mr. Clark in a photo42 lineup as fleeing from the scene, had never marked Mr. Clark's photo with an "X" during the43 lineup as the police detective had claimed at trial, had never identified Mr. Clark as running44 through the Bowling's yard when Mr. Bowling was shot, and had never seen anyone outside45 the Bowling's residence at the time of the shooting; and46 WHEREAS, the 2021 independent investigation also revealed for the first time that the lead47 police investigator in the case was having a sexual relationshi p with a member of Mr.48 Bowling's family at the time that he decided, at the Bowling family's request, to investigate49 the case as a homicide and to pursue Mr. Clark as a primary suspect; and50 WHEREAS, based upon this newly discovered evidence of police mi sconduct, the51 withholding of critical and material evidence, false testimony, and grounds of actual52 innocence, on September 16, 2022, Georgia Innocence Project lawyers filed an Extraordinary53 Motion for New Trial (EMNT) and a petition for a writ of habeas corpus; and54 WHEREAS, on December 8, 2022, Mr. Clark's convictions were overturned and vacated by55 the Superior Court of Floyd County, which granted the EMNT in a consent order prepared56 by Mr. Clark's attorneys and the District Attorney's Office for the Rome Judicial Circuit57 stating that the newly discovered evidence called into question the accuracy of the testimony58 of the State's two critical witnesses; and59 H. R. 129 - 3 - 25 LC 60 0052 WHEREAS, on that same date, the District Attorney's Office for the Rome Judicial Circuit60 sought, and a Floyd County Superior Court Judge granted, dismissal of all charges against61 Mr. Clark based upon evidentiary considerations; and62 WHEREAS, after more than twenty-five years of wrongful imprison ment by the State of63 Georgia, Mr. Clark was finally exonerated and freed from his incarceration on December 8,64 2022; and65 WHEREAS, as a result of his wrongful imprisonment, Mr. Clark wa s deprived of his66 irreplaceable, God-given, and constitutionally guaranteed right s to liberty, freedom of67 speech, movement, association and worship, and robbed in his pursuit of happiness, family68 life, and belonging and contributing to his community; and69 WHEREAS, Mr. Clark suffered personal injury, lost wages, injury to his reputation, health,70 emotional trauma, psychiatric injury, and suffered the daily de privations, fears, risks and71 indignities of imprisonment, and other damages as a result of his wrongful incarceration; and72 WHEREAS, during his imprisonment, Mr. Clark obtained his GED an d took a variety of73 adult education courses, dedicated himself to cultivating stronger and sustained relationships74 with his family in the unnatural prison setting, and, upon rele ase has become active in his75 church community and the Georgia exoneree community, providing both support to other76 victims of wrongful imprisonment and heightening awareness abou t the causes and77 consequences of wrongful incarceration through his volunteer wo r k w i t h t h e G e o r g i a78 Innocence Project; and79 WHEREAS, the conviction, incarceration, and subsequent loss of liberty and other damages80 suffered by Mr. Clark occurred through no fault or negligence o n his part, and it is only81 H. R. 129 - 4 - 25 LC 60 0052 fitting, just, and proper that he be compensated for his losses in the amount of $75,000.00 for82 each year of wrongful imprisonment; and83 WHEREAS, Georgia is one of only eleven states that does not have a statutory regime for84 compensating innocent individuals who have been exonerated following wrongful conviction85 and incarceration; and86 WHEREAS, this lack of a statutory regime for compensation requi res introduction of a87 private resolution to secure such compensation in Georgia.88 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF89 GEORGIA that the Department of Administrative Services is authorized and directed to pay90 the sum of $1,917,128.00 to Mr. Daryl Lee Clark as compensation as provided above. Said91 sum shall be paid from funds appropriated to or available to th e Department of92 Administrative Services and shall be paid subject to the provisions of this resolution. After93 an initial payment of $632,652.00, the remainder of said sum shall be paid immediately into94 a commercial annuity account bearing interest at the prevailing market rate, payable in equal95 monthly installments over ten years beginning in 2026 with interest payable to Mr. Daryl Lee96 Clark. The State of Georgia shall be entitled to a credit equal to the amount it pays under this97 resolution should Mr. Daryl Lee Clark recover damages as a result of a lawsuit against any98 state official or employee acting in an official capacity whose tort liability for wrongful99 conviction arises from the same circumstances as described herein, less any attorney's fees100 or costs Mr. Daryl Lee Clark paid in obtaining those damages. Should Mr. Daryl Lee Clark101 recover damages totaling less than the amount the State of Geor gia pays under this102 resolution, the State of Georgia shall be entitled to a partial credit no greater than the amount103 of damages Mr. Daryl Lee Clark recovers less any attorney's fee s or costs Mr. Daryl Lee104 Clark paid in obtaining those damages. Upon the death of Mr. Daryl Lee Clark, all payments105 H. R. 129 - 5 - 25 LC 60 0052 and all obligations of the State of Georgia regarding any and all future payments with106 respect to the annuity shall continue to be made to his estate or heirs.107 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that any amount received by Mr. Daryl Lee Clark pursuant108 to this resolution shall be excluded from his taxable net incom e for state income tax109 purposes.110 H. R. 129 - 6 - ## Summaries written by Georgia Commons The following was written by claude-sonnet-5 from the text above and is not part of the resolution. Quote the text, not the summary. A Georgia House resolution would direct the state to pay Daryl Lee Clark $1,917,128 for his wrongful murder conviction and 25 years of imprisonment, exonerated in 2022. ### Plain-language summary Daryl Lee Clark was convicted in 1998, along with Cain Joshua Storey, for the 1996 murder of Brian Bowling and sentenced to life in prison. Years later, an independent investigation and the Georgia Innocence Project uncovered that the two key witnesses against him gave false or mistranslated testimony and that police had suppressed evidence and coerced a witness. In December 2022, a Floyd County Superior Court judge vacated Clark's conviction and dismissed all charges, freeing him after more than 25 years of wrongful imprisonment. Because Georgia has no general law compensating exonerated people, this resolution is a private bill to pay Clark directly. It would direct the Department of Administrative Services to pay him $1,917,128, with an initial payment of $632,652 and the rest placed in an annuity paid out monthly over ten years starting in 2026. The state would get credit against this payment if Clark also wins a lawsuit over the same wrongful conviction, and the payments would continue to his estate or heirs if he dies. The money would not count as taxable income under Georgia's state income tax. ### What it does - Directs the Department of Administrative Services to pay Daryl Lee Clark $1,917,128 as compensation for 25-plus years of wrongful imprisonment. - Requires an initial lump-sum payment of $632,652, with the remaining balance placed into a commercial annuity paid in equal monthly installments over ten years starting in 2026. - Gives the State of Georgia a credit against this payment (full or partial) if Clark separately recovers damages from a lawsuit against a state official over the same wrongful conviction, minus his attorney's fees and costs. - Continues all future annuity payments to Clark's estate or heirs if he dies before payments are complete. - Excludes any money Clark receives under this resolution from his taxable net income for Georgia state income tax purposes. ### Who it affects Daryl Lee Clark, the exonerated individual who would receive the payment, and the Department of Administrative Services, which would administer and fund the payments. It could also affect any future litigation involving Floyd County officials or employees tied to his wrongful conviction. ### Why it matters Because Georgia lacks a general law compensating exonerated people, wrongfully convicted individuals like Clark must seek payment through one-off legislative resolutions like this one. If passed, it would provide him a defined, tax-free financial remedy for over two decades of wrongful imprisonment. ### Key provisions - The preamble recounts the 1996 death of Brian Bowling, Clark's 1998 murder conviction, and the 2021-2022 investigation revealing coerced and mistranslated witness testimony and police misconduct. - States that Clark's convictions were vacated and all charges dismissed by the Superior Court of Floyd County on December 8, 2022, after 25-plus years of imprisonment. - The resolving clause directs payment of $1,917,128, with $632,652 paid immediately and the remainder placed in a ten-year annuity beginning in 2026. - Grants the State of Georgia a credit against any tort damages Clark might separately win from state officials over the same wrongful conviction, minus his legal costs. - Provides that if Clark dies, remaining annuity payments continue to his estate or heirs. - Excludes the compensation from Clark's taxable net income for Georgia state income tax purposes. ## Status - Status: Introduced (2025-02-03) - Last action: House Withdrawn, Recommitted (2025-04-04) - Sponsors: Katie Dempsey, Matt Barton, Eddie Lumsden - Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/69780 > The history, votes, and amendments (235 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr129.md?full=1