HR 119: Stinchcomb, Mr. Mario; compensate

Mario Stinchcomb was convicted of murder in 2004 and sentenced to life in prison, despite consistent claims that he and a co-defendant acted in self-defense after being shot at. A witness who could have corroborated that account was believed dead and never testified at trial. Years later Stinchcomb found the witness alive, and after a Georgia Supreme Court ruling granting him an evidentiary hearing, Fulton County's Conviction Integrity Unit exonerated him; charges were dropped in April 2021. Because Georgia has no general law compensating people who are wrongfully convicted, this resolution acts as a private bill to compensate Stinchcomb directly. It directs the Department of Administrative Services to pay him $975,000 (calculated at $75,000 per year of wrongful imprisonment), with part paid upfront and the rest placed in an annuity paid out monthly over ten years starting in 2026. The state can recover credit if he later wins a related lawsuit, and the payments would not count as taxable state income.

• Directs the Department of Administrative Services to pay Mario Stinchcomb $975,000 as compensation for his wrongful conviction and imprisonment.
• Sets an initial payment of $321,750.00, with the remaining balance placed in a commercial annuity paid in equal monthly installments over ten years starting in 2026.
• Gives the State of Georgia a credit against future lawsuit damages Stinchcomb might win from state officials over the same wrongful conviction, minus his legal costs.
• Provides that if Stinchcomb dies, remaining annuity payments continue to his estate or heirs.
• Excludes any money Stinchcomb receives under this resolution from being taxed as state income.

This resolution directly affects Mario Stinchcomb, who was wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for 13 years. It also involves the Department of Administrative Services, which would issue the payments, and touches on the roles of the Fulton County District Attorney's Office and Georgia's court system in his original conviction and later exoneration.

Because Georgia has no general law compensating wrongfully convicted people, this private resolution is the only way Stinchcomb can receive state compensation for over a decade lost in prison. It sets a payment structure and tax treatment that could serve as a model for similar future cases.

• The whereas clauses detail the case history: Stinchcomb's 2004 conviction, his discovery of a living witness in 2018, a 2020 Georgia Supreme Court ruling granting an evidentiary hearing, and his 2021 exoneration.
• The resolution sets the compensation amount at $75,000 per year of wrongful imprisonment, totaling $975,000.
• It specifies an initial lump-sum payment of $321,750.00 followed by a ten-year annuity with monthly installments starting in 2026.
• It grants the state a credit against the compensation amount if Stinchcomb later recovers damages from a related lawsuit against state officials.
• It states that payments continue to Stinchcomb's estate or heirs if he dies before the annuity term ends.
• It excludes the compensation from Stinchcomb's taxable net income for state income tax purposes.

1. 2025-04-04House Withdrawn, Recommitted (Cámara de Representantes)
2. 2025-03-04House Committee Favorably Reported (Cámara de Representantes)
3. 2025-02-04House Second Readers (Cámara de Representantes)
4. 2025-02-03House First Readers (Cámara de Representantes)
5. 2025-01-30House Hopper (Cámara de Representantes)

• Stacey Evans (D, HD-057)Patrocinador principal
• Tanya Miller (D, HD-062)
• Phil Olaleye (D, HD-059)
• Scott Holcomb (D, HD-101)

• wrongful conviction compensation
• criminal justice
• Fulton County exoneration
• private compensation bill