Darrell Lee Clark and his co-defendant Cain Joshua Storey have been 17 years previous once they have been arrested for his or her alleged involvement within the demise of 15-year-old Brian Bowling.
He died from a gunshot wound to the top in his household’s cell dwelling on October 18, 1996, in keeping with Clark’s attorneys, Christina Cribbs and Meagan Hurley, with the nonprofit Georgia Innocence Project.
Storey was charged with involuntary manslaughter, however months later, police started investigating the demise as a murder, and interviewed two witnesses whose statements led authorities to tie Clark to Bowling’s demise, the Georgia Innocence Project mentioned.
“Despite the circumstances, which strongly indicated that Bowling accidentally shot himself in the head, at the urging of Bowling’s family members, police later began investigating the death as a homicide,” in keeping with a movement filed by Clark’s attorneys, requesting a brand new trial.
The two youngsters have been sentenced to life in jail after being convicted of homicide and conspiracy to commit homicide, following a weeklong trial in 1998.
Podcast uncovers new proof
Clark’s exoneration got here a yr and a half after investigative podcasters Susan Simpson and Jacinda Davis started scrutinising his case of their Proof true-crime podcast in 2021, and interviewed two of the state’s key witnesses.
Through their investigation, new proof emerged which “shattered the state’s theory of Clark’s involvement” in Bowling’s demise and the podcasters flagged his case to the Georgia Innocence Project, in keeping with its news launch.
The first witness, a girl who lived close to Bowling’s dwelling, was interviewed by police, who claimed she alleged the teenagers confessed that they had “planned the murder of Bowling because he knew too much about a prior theft Storey and Clark had committed”, in keeping with the Georgia Innocence Project.
Based on her testimony, Storey was charged with homicide and Clark was arrested as a co-conspirator regardless of having a corroborated alibi, stating he was dwelling on the evening of the capturing, which was supported by two witnesses, in keeping with Clark’s movement for a brand new trial.
But the girl revealed within the podcast that police coerced her into giving false statements and threatened to take her youngsters away from her if she didn’t comply, in keeping with the Georgia Innocence Project.
Police claimed the opposite witness, a person who was in a special room of the Bowlings’ dwelling on the time of the capturing, recognized Clark from a photograph lineup because the individual he noticed working by way of the yard on the evening Bowling was shot, the news launch mentioned.
It was uncovered within the podcast that the person’s testimony was primarily based on an “unrelated, factually similar shooting” which he witnessed in 1976, and he by no means recognized Clark as the person within the yard, nor did he ever witness anybody within the yard on the evening of the capturing, in keeping with the Georgia Innocence Project.
Davis instructed CNN in an interview when she and Simpson began their investigation that they weren’t anticipating something to return of it, however as they interviewed extra individuals it was “clear that it just wasn’t adding up”.
“It took us a long time to talk to both of those witnesses. The podcast was happening in almost real time as an investigation. When we finally found and were able to talk to those two witnesses, it really solidified that both of these guys had been wrongly convicted,” Davis mentioned.
Clark’s attorneys filed pleadings in September to problem a wrongful conviction and ask for a brand new trial, citing new data which proved his conviction was primarily based on false proof and coercion, Hurley instructed CNN.
Clark and Storey attempt to rebuild their lives
Clark, now 43, was launched from the Floyd County Jail on Thursday after the Rome Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office and Floyd County Superior Court Judge John Neidrach agreed the conviction needs to be overturned and all underlying costs in opposition to him dismissed, after proof within the case was reexamined.
Storey, who admitted to bringing the gun to Bowling’s dwelling, was additionally launched after accepting a plea deal for involuntary manslaughter, and a 10-year sentence with time served, after spending 25 years in jail.
He was additionally exonerated of homicide costs.
Storey instructed CNN in an interview he was afraid to fall asleep the primary evening after he was launched in case he would get up and “realise it was all a dream”.
“It’s been surreal to say the least,” he mentioned.
“I believe it’s going to be great. One step at a time. I never allowed my mind to get locked up all those years, anyhow.”
“You never think something like that is going to happen to you,” mentioned Lee Clark in a press release launched by the Georgia Innocence Project.
“Never would I have thought I would spend more than half my life in prison, especially for something I didn’t do.”
Clark’s father, Glen Clark, instructed CNN in an interview, “I’ve been waiting for this day for a long, long time. 25 years. My son was wrongly accused, and I knew it all these years. It’s hard for me to live with that.”
“I watched my son go into prison as a kid, I watched him go through prison, I watched him come out as a man. He became a man in prison,” he added.
Clark resides together with his household of their dwelling in Floyd County for the foreseeable future as he focuses on readjusting to life outdoors jail and rebuilding his life, he instructed CNN.
Storey mentioned he additionally moved again to Floyd County, with plans to return to high school and get a job.
Clark mentioned Judge Neidrach apologised on behalf of the state of Georgia and Floyd County throughout the court docket listening to this week, which was an necessary step towards therapeutic.
“That really touched my heart, because I had been living in corruption for so long, and it meant a lot to have someone acknowledge that wrong,” he instructed CNN.
The Georgia Innocence Project will work to help Clark throughout his transition and join him to assets, and a private fundraiser has been organised on the MightyCause platform, open to the general public for donations to Clark and his household, Hurley mentioned.
“It’s probably going to take some time to like truly process that he is free and doesn’t have to go back behind prison walls, because he spent most of his life behind them,” Hurley mentioned.
“More than anything, he’s looking forward to getting to spend time with his family and rebuilding some of those relationships that he was, frankly, ripped away from at the age of 17,” she added.
The exonerations of each males have been the fruits of a collaboration between Clark, Storey and his defence staff, in addition to the Bowling household, which was keen to take an “objective look at this case and reevaluate some of the things they have been told in the past”, Hurley mentioned.
Kidnappers of music legend’s son make weird ransom demand
Davis was within the courtroom throughout Clark and Storey’s listening to this week and mentioned she’s nonetheless “in shock” and feels an enormous quantity of reduction for each males.
“In the end, I also feel for Brian Bowling’s family who have been incredibly gracious and supportive as well. It’s really rare when you have the victim’s family support the convictions being overturned,” Davis mentioned.
