HR 129: Clark, Mr. Daryl Lee; compensate

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.

WHEREAS, on October 18, 1996, fifteen-year-old Brian Bowling tragically lost his life while playing "Russian Roulette" with his friend, seventeen-year-old Cain Joshua Storey, in the bedroom of Mr. Bowling's home in Floyd County, Georgia; and

WHEREAS, despite compelling evidence that Mr. Bowling's death was self-inflicted and the absence of evidence demonstrating that Mr. Bowling's death was a homicide, Floyd County law enforcement began to investigate Mr. Bowling's death as a homicide after members of the Bowling family exerted pressure on law enforcement to do so; and

WHEREAS, several months later, seventeen-year-old Daryl Lee Clark, an acquaintance of Mr. Bowling, was arrested, and both he and Mr. Storey were charged with the murder and conspiracy to commit the murder of Mr. Bowling; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Clark repeatedly and unwaveringly maintained his innocence and the only evidence against Mr. Clark came through two witnesses at trial, who were both improperly influenced by law enforcement and ultimately determined to be unreliable; and

WHEREAS, one of the State's two key witnesses was Angela Bruce, who claimed that during a party at her home after Mr. Bowling's death, she heard Mr. Storey say he had shot and killed Mr. Bowling, and heard Mr. Clark say he was present at the time of the shooting; and

WHEREAS, the second of the State's two key witnesses was Charlie Childers, a functionally illiterate and severely hearing and speech impaired man with limited and unique sign language skills, whose trial communications were presented through a standard sign language interpreter and then supplemented with assertions made by a Floyd County Police detective, leaving the jury with information that Mr. Childers had seen a person named "Daryl" flee from Mr. Bowling's yard immediately after the shooting, and that Mr. Childers had identified Mr. Clark in a police photo lineup; and

WHEREAS, on January 19, 1998, Mr. Clark and Mr. Storey were both convicted of murder and conspiracy to commit murder and sentenced to life imprisonment; and

WHEREAS, in late 2021 during an independent investigation, it came to light that police suppressed and failed to turn over evidence that, though they had spoken to other party guests, not a single person confirmed Ms. Bruce's story; and in late 2021, Ms. Bruce admitted for the first time to reporters and the Georgia Innocence Project that her incriminating testimony concerning Mr. Clark's and Mr. Storey's admissions was false and made under duress at the hands of law enforcement, who threatened to take away her children and had shared their plan with the Bowling family; and

WHEREAS, the independent investigation further established for the first time that Mr. Childers's translator at Mr. Clark's trial later questioned the accuracy of her own translation of Mr. Childers's testimony, and regretted providing the translation at trial, because Mr. Childers's manner of communication was not standard American Sign Language, but instead a communication method unique to Mr. Childers and his former teacher (an ASL expert who knew and understood Mr. Childers's unique communication method, having worked with him from the time he has been a child); and

WHEREAS, through interpretation by a new translator (his former teacher) in 2021, it was made clear for the first time that Mr. Childers had never identified Mr. Clark in a photo lineup as fleeing from the scene, had never marked Mr. Clark's photo with an "X" during the lineup as the police detective had claimed at trial, had never identified Mr. Clark as running through the Bowling's yard when Mr. Bowling was shot, and had never seen anyone outside the Bowling's residence at the time of the shooting; and

WHEREAS, the 2021 independent investigation also revealed for the first time that the lead police investigator in the case was having a sexual relationship with a member of Mr. Bowling's family at the time that he decided, at the Bowling family's request, to investigate the case as a homicide and to pursue Mr. Clark as a primary suspect; and

WHEREAS, based upon this newly discovered evidence of police misconduct, the withholding of critical and material evidence, false testimony, and grounds of actual innocence, on September 16, 2022, Georgia Innocence Project lawyers filed an Extraordinary Motion for New Trial (EMNT) and a petition for a writ of habeas corpus; and

WHEREAS, on December 8, 2022, Mr. Clark's convictions were overturned and vacated by the Superior Court of Floyd County, which granted the EMNT in a consent order prepared by Mr. Clark's attorneys and the District Attorney's Office for the Rome Judicial Circuit stating that the newly discovered evidence called into question the accuracy of the testimony of the State's two critical witnesses; and

WHEREAS, on that same date, the District Attorney's Office for the Rome Judicial Circuit sought, and a Floyd County Superior Court Judge granted, dismissal of all charges against Mr. Clark based upon evidentiary considerations; and

WHEREAS, after more than twenty-five years of wrongful imprisonment by the State of Georgia, Mr. Clark was finally exonerated and freed from his incarceration on December 8, 2022; and

WHEREAS, as a result of his wrongful imprisonment, Mr. Clark was deprived of his irreplaceable, God-given, and constitutionally guaranteed rights to liberty, freedom of speech, movement, association and worship, and robbed in his pursuit of happiness, family life, and belonging and contributing to his community; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Clark suffered personal injury, lost wages, injury to his reputation, health, emotional trauma, psychiatric injury, and suffered the daily deprivations, fears, risks and indignities of imprisonment, and other damages as a result of his wrongful incarceration; and

WHEREAS, during his imprisonment, Mr. Clark obtained his GED and took a variety of adult education courses, dedicated himself to cultivating stronger and sustained relationships with his family in the unnatural prison setting, and, upon release has become active in his church community and the Georgia exoneree community, providing both support to other victims of wrongful imprisonment and heightening awareness about the causes and consequences of wrongful incarceration through his volunteer work with the Georgia Innocence Project; and

WHEREAS, the conviction, incarceration, and subsequent loss of liberty and other damages suffered by Mr. Clark occurred through no fault or negligence on his part, and it is only fitting, just, and proper that he be compensated for his losses in the amount of $75,000.00 for each year of wrongful imprisonment; and

WHEREAS, Georgia is one of only eleven states that does not have a statutory regime for compensating innocent individuals who have been exonerated following wrongful conviction and incarceration; and

WHEREAS, this lack of a statutory regime for compensation requires introduction of a private resolution to secure such compensation in Georgia.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF

GEORGIA that the Department of Administrative Services is authorized and directed to pay the sum of $1,917,128.00 to Mr. Daryl Lee Clark as compensation as provided above. Said sum shall be paid from funds appropriated to or available to the Department of Administrative Services and shall be paid subject to the provisions of this resolution. After an initial payment of $632,652.00, the remainder of said sum shall be paid immediately into a commercial annuity account bearing interest at the prevailing market rate, payable in equal monthly installments over ten years beginning in 2026 with interest payable to Mr. Daryl Lee Clark. The State of Georgia shall be entitled to a credit equal to the amount it pays under this resolution should Mr. Daryl Lee Clark recover damages as a result of a lawsuit against any state official or employee acting in an official capacity whose tort liability for wrongful conviction arises from the same circumstances as described herein, less any attorney's fees or costs Mr. Daryl Lee Clark paid in obtaining those damages. Should Mr. Daryl Lee Clark recover damages totaling less than the amount the State of Georgia pays under this resolution, the State of Georgia shall be entitled to a partial credit no greater than the amount of damages Mr. Daryl Lee Clark recovers less any attorney's fees or costs Mr. Daryl Lee Clark paid in obtaining those damages. Upon the death of Mr. Daryl Lee Clark, all payments and all obligations of the State of Georgia regarding any and all future payments with respect to the annuity shall continue to be made to his estate or heirs. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that any amount received by Mr. Daryl Lee Clark pursuant to this resolution shall be excluded from his taxable net income for state income tax purposes.