Georgia bill would compensate the wrongfully convicted and let Trump recover costs of election case

ATLANTA AP A repeated attempt to fix Georgia s inefficient system for compensating people wrongfully convicted of crimes almost died Then it got tacked onto a bill that could compensate former President Donald Trump and his codefendants for attorneys fees after they were indicted for attempting to overturn his polling loss in Georgia The combined bill Senate Bill won final approval Friday the last day of Georgia s legislative session If Republican Gov Brian Kemp signs the bill it would let criminal defendants recoup attorneys fees in cases where a prosecutor gets disqualified and the occurrence is dismissed It would also establish a state law requiring an administrative law judge to award per year of incarceration to people who have been identified wrongfully convicted if they prove they are innocent of the crime or any lesser offense Georgia is one of states without a law compensating people wrongfully convicted of crimes according to an analysis by the Georgia Innocence Project Instead a lawmaker must sponsor a measure to compensate people and get legislative approval a process plagued by politics that often leaves people without money including five who tried this year The original half of the bill has a different backstory Trump and codefendants were indicted in Fulton County in August Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was disqualified from the occurrence by a state appeals court based on a romantic relationship she had with special prosecutor Nathan Wade whom Willis hired to lead the scenario This is what led state Sen Brandon Beach an Alpharetta Republican to bring forward the measure He was not long ago named treasurer of the United States by Trump after years of vociferous help for the president Punitive politics The measure passed the Senate - with all Republicans voting yes The three highest-ranking Democrats crossed over to vote yes House Minority Leader Harold Jones II of Augusta House Democratic Caucus Chair Sen Elena Parent of Atlanta and House Democratic Whip Kim Jackson of Stone Mountain But a great number of Democrats were not on board I understand particular people have allegiance to the president and particular people voted for him and that s their right But do not force my constituents to pay his legal fees Atlanta Democrat state Sen RaShaun Kemp disclosed Atlanta Democrat state Rep Shea Roberts on Wednesday called the bill a disgusting display of punitive politics The bill passed - in the House It puts legislators and voters in a moral straitjacket Roberts explained If you want to advocacy justice for the wrongfully convicted you also have to advocacy protecting powerful politicians from accountability That s not leadership that s hostage-taking A long-standing push The bill s passage came the day after Republican Senate Majority Whip Randy Robertson held a four hour committee meeting at a m on a measure to compensate five people whose convictions were overturned after years of incarceration By then it was too late for that proposal to get a vote Robertson a former sheriff s deputy has been the lead opponent against past measures to compensate people and to establish a law to let legal experts make that decision instead of legislators People seeking compensation this year have had convictions overturned based on findings such as DNA evidence legal and police errors and the discovery of new evidence indicating they did not commit the crime they were incarcerated for But Robertson declared people ascertained wrongfully convicted aren t necessarily innocent because convictions may be overturned due to technical errors He also had doubts about whether several of the people seeking compensation this year were innocent Still he explained the current method is flawed and he decided to encouragement this year s bill to take the compensation process out of the legislature s hand Republican sponsor state Rep Katie Dempsey of Rome reported the bill will let the wrongfully convicted have a true chance that is not a retrial from legislators Democratic Rep Scott Holcomb who has championed the wrongful compensation bill for years begged Democrats in both chambers to vote for a measure he called one of the meager incredibly consequential bills he worked on There isn t a person alive who would deal the money that these individuals are receiving for what happened to them in terms of being locked up in our state s prisons for usually decades of their lives for something they didn t do he noted Friday Associated Press writer Jeff Amy contributed to this account Charlotte Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press Account for America Statehouse News Initiative Statement for America is a nonprofit national system campaign that places journalists in local newsrooms to summary on undercovered issues Follow Kramon on X charlottekramon Source