Two Floyd County men have been released from prison after serving over 25 years after journalists in the Proof podcast uncovered evidence that, among other things, detectives manufactured evidence to secure a conviction.
While Josh Storey accepted a plea deal for involuntary manslaughter and a 10 year sentence with credit for time served, that conviction will be wiped from his record under Georgia’s First Offender Act.
“Obviously that’s been served in full,” Floyd County Superior Court Chief Judge John “Jack” Niedrach said Thursday.
Charges for Darrell Lee Clark were dropped wholesale. Christina Cribbs, an attorney from the Georgia Innocence Project who represented Clark, thanked the district attorney’s office for looking at the case objectively and anew.
Credit: Ryan Smith/Georgia Innocence Project
Credit: Ryan Smith/Georgia Innocence Project
“For two decades, Lee and I sat in prison for a crime that never happened,” said Storey, flanked by his attorneys Ross Hamrick and Luke Martin. “I would like to thank the district attorney’s office for acknowledging our innocence and the Bowling family for their grace... I fully admit to bringing the gun down there that night, but I had no intention to cause any harm to anyone — especially, my best friend, Brian (Bowling). I am not going to repeat the testimony I gave 25 years ago, but I do understand that if I had not taken the gun to Brian’s house, this would not have happened.
“I was arrested when I was 17 years old and now I’m 43,” he continued. “I’ve missed most of my life — like high-school graduation, a college degree and even my dad’s funeral. But even though I’ve lost 25 years of my life, today I’m going home to get back the life that I lost. But Brian never will. Because of my own actions that night, I lost my best friend. And that’s what hurts the most, Brian never got to live.”
When the hearing ended, Judge Niedrach allowed the packed crowd a moment to applaud.
Credit: Ryan Smith/Georgia Innocence Project
Credit: Ryan Smith/Georgia Innocence Project
Background
Investigators initially thought that the shooting of Brian Bowling in October 1996 was essentially accidental — a fatal game of Russian roulette. Storey told police he felt it was his fault because he’d brought the gun, and he was initially charged with involuntary manslaughter.
However, several months later Storey, who was in Bowling’s room that night, and his friend Clark were charged with murder. At that time prosecutors argued the two had conspired to kill Bowling to keep him quiet about thefts they’d committed.
The two teens were sentenced to life in prison after a trial in 1998.
A motion for new trial states that new evidence in the case, including statements from the primary witnesses that linked Bowling’s death to the two men, shows the conviction was built on coercion and false evidence.
The motion states the case was built on testimony from a person, characterized as a witness, who was actually speaking about another incident — and a woman who falsely testified the teens had admitted to shooting Bowling after an investigator threatened to have her children taken away.
One of those investigators, Harry Dallas Battles, was fired from the Floyd County Police Department in 2007 after 17 years at the agency after having been accused of rape. He was not indicted, but he was later jailed in 2016 on charges that he’d tased a restrained inmate while working for the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. He died in 2021.
Credit: Ryan Smith/Georgia Innocence Project
Credit: Ryan Smith/Georgia Innocence Project
During the trial, prosecutors relied heavily on the false and coerced testimony to build a case, the motion states, and were willing to play fast and loose with other details.
“It turns out that investigators Battles and (David) Stewart never found a trial of guilt — they simply created their own,” the motion states.
Redemption
The Proof podcast revisited the case beginning in 2021. Proof is hosted by two veteran investigative journalists, Susan Simpson and Jacinda Davis. In the podcast, Simpson and Davis described travelling across Floyd County to talk to witnesses, relatives and experts to piece together what exactly occurred on the night Bowling died.
When the Rome Circuit District Attorney’s office was presented with that proof, Assistant District Attorney Emily Johnson told the judge, they reviewed those facts and decided this was the best course of action.
Credit: Ryan Smith/Georgia Innocence Project
Credit: Ryan Smith/Georgia Innocence Project
Bowling’s uncle, Michael Baker, and his older sister, Amanda Floyd, told the court they believed that Clark and Storey were innocent and thanked Simpson and Davis for making sure that justice has been served.
“My mom and dad and brother would be very happy about this situation,” Floyd said.
Clerks in the court worked late Thursday to finalize the paperwork. The two men were released from jail and back with their families Thursday evening.
Credit: Rome News-Tribune
Credit: Rome News-Tribune
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