State Rep. Scott Holcomb worked this session to help Georgians who were wrongfully convicted of a crime and went to prison. But his bill didn’t pass.
The veteran legislator told the hosts of “Politically Georgia” that the solution for wrongfully convicted people can’t be “We’re glad we finally gave you your freedom. Now, go figure it out.”
In Georgia, for a wrongfully convicted person to be compensated, they must find a legislator to sponsor them. Then, that resolution for compensation has to go through the regular legislative process of passing committees and floor votes in both chambers.
But Holcomb, an Atlanta Democrat, proposed a different approach in House Bill 364 that would’ve established an independent board to compensate exonerees. That measure, however, stalled in the Senate during this session.
Along with Holcomb’s efforts, four state representatives filed resolutions over the past two years on behalf of six men who served time on wrongful convictions. All six also stalled in the Georgia Senate.
“They’ve passed the House with very, very strong bipartisan support over the last couple of years. But then they’ve stalled in the Senate, and it really hasn’t been clear to me why,” Holcomb said.
The Georgia House has taken the position that anyone who was wrongfully convicted, later exonerated and freed should receive compensation.
Some in the Georgia Senate believe people should only receive compensation if the government is directly at fault.
“There are individuals who oppose it, and they’re very powerful in the Republican caucus. And some of them question whether or not individuals that the judicial system has exonerated are, in fact, innocent,” Holcomb said. “I’m a former prosecutor. I take a lot of exception to that. It’s extraordinarily difficult to be exonerated.”
Holcomb maintains that aside from the political debate, there is a human cost for wrongfully imprisoned people.
“Who would give up your twenties and thirties for something that you didn’t do? And it impacts their families and the answer can’t be the state messed up,” an emotional Holcomb said.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution staff writer Maya T. Prabhu contributed to this article.
Wednesday on “Politically Georgia”: We discuss Gov. Brian Kemp’s signing of the school vouchers bill.
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