Current:Home > FinanceMurder charges dropped after fight to exonerate Georgia man who spent 22 years behind bars-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
Murder charges dropped after fight to exonerate Georgia man who spent 22 years behind bars
View Date:2024-12-23 18:29:29
ROME, Ga. (AP) — A judge dismissed a murder charge against a Georgia man who spent more than 20 years in prison, ending a decadeslong legal fight to exonerate him.
The Floyd County judge dismissed the case at the request of the district attorney, who decided not to bring Joey Watkins to trial again after his initial conviction was vacated. The Georgia Innocence Project and other attorneys waged a lengthy fight to overturn the conviction.
Watkins and his attorneys said they wept as they called him to say the charges were being dropped.
“Cried like a baby I guess you could say, just knowing that it was finally finished, finally over,” Watkins told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
Watkins, now 43, was 20 when he was convicted and sentenced to serve life plus five years in prison for the 2000 slaying of Isaac Dawkins in northwest Georgia. Dawkins was driving his truck along a highway when someone opened fire and shot him in the head.
The Georgia Supreme Court in December agreed with a judge that Watkins should have a new trial, and a judge in January agreed to release him from jail on bond as he awaited his second trial date.
The district attorney’s office filed a motion to drop the prosecution, and a judge granted the request on Thursday, according to the Georgia Innocence Project.
Christina Cribbs, senior attorney with the Georgia Innocence Project, said Watkins won the new trial request based on issues with juror misconduct and other factors. But she said cellphone data shows that he was not near Dawkins.
After spending more than half his life behind bars, Watkins said he is trying to adjust and rebuild his life.
“Everything that you knew is different. Places. People. It’s just like time stops and restarts,” he said. “I’m just grateful at another chance of life.”
Cribbs said that while it is joyful to see Watkins released, there is a lot of “sadness there too about what was lost.”
“There is no way Joey can get those 22 years back,” Cribbs said.
The podcast “Undisclosed” aired episodes about the case.
veryGood! (9)
Related
- Military veteran gets time served for making ricin out of ‘curiosity’
- Watch livestream: Ethan Crumbley sentencing for 2021 Oxford school shooting
- Critics pan planned $450M Nebraska football stadium renovation as academic programs face cuts
- AP Week in Pictures: Global | Dec. 1 - Dec. 7, 2023
- Advance Auto Parts is closing hundreds of stores in an effort to turn its business around
- Ukraine’s human rights envoy calls for a faster way to bring back children deported by Russia
- Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis Get into the Holiday Spirit in Royal Outing
- Rot Girl Winter: Everything You Need for a Delightfully Slothful Season
- Brianna LaPaglia Reacts to Rumors Dave Portnoy Paid Her $10 Million for a Zach Bryan Tell-All
- DeSantis, Haley and Ramaswamy will appear in northwest Iowa days after a combative GOP debate
Ranking
- Kate Hudson and Goldie Hawn’s SKIMS Holiday Pajamas Are Selling Out Fast—Here’s What’s Still Available
- Man freed after 11 years in prison sues St. Louis and detectives who worked his case
- Scottish court upholds UK decision to block Scotland’s landmark gender-recognition bill
- Hunter Biden indicted on tax crimes by special counsel
- Detroit-area police win appeal over liability in death of woman in custody
- High-speed rail projects get a $6 billion infusion of federal infrastructure money
- With Putin’s reelection all but assured, Russia’s opposition still vows to undermine his image
- Think twice before scanning a QR code — it could lead to identity theft, FTC warns
Recommendation
-
Olivia Munn Says She “Barely Knew” John Mulaney When She Got Pregnant With Their Son
-
Missouri House Democrat is kicked off committees after posting photo with alleged Holocaust denier
-
Arkansas man sentenced to 5 1/2 years for firebombing police cars during 2020 protests
-
Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes' Exes Andrew Shue and Marilee Fiebig Spotted Together Amid Budding Romance
-
South Carolina lab recaptures 5 more escaped monkeys but 13 are still loose
-
One-of-a-kind eclipse: Asteroid to pass in front of star Betelgeuse. Who will see it?
-
Mexico raids and closes 31 pharmacies in Ensenada that were selling fentanyl-laced pills
-
Stock analysts who got it wrong last year predict a soft landing in 2024