DNA bill passes House

The high-profile case of slain Georgia hiker Meredith Emerson has fostered another piece of legislation. Today the House passed a measure that would allow police to compare DNA collected from some suspects to state or national databases. Legislators cited Emerson's case to support the bill. Lawmakers must now reconcile it with a similar one that earlier passed the Senate. The 24-year-old Emerson was kidnapped and killed while going on a New Year's Day hike in the north Georgia woods.

DNA frees convicted rapist

A man who spent nearly three decades behind bars for a rape he didn’t commit is free today. DNA evidence cleared 48-year-old John Jerome White of the crime. White left Macon State Prison last night, 27 years after a jury in Meriwether County convicted him of sexually assaulting an elderly woman. The Georgia Innocence Project worked to clear White of the crime.

Lawmakers consider new eyewitness ID rules

Georgia law enforcement officials are warning lawmakers it’s a bad idea to pass a law mandating how police must conduct eyewitness identifications. A House panel is weighing whether to create rules governing police lineups. The move comes after six men in Georgia who went to prison on the strength of eyewitness IDs were recently exonerated through post-conviction DNA analysis. Today the police chief of LaGrange testified that law enforcement, not lawmakers, should study the issue and come up with guidelines.

Lawmakers told: crime witnesses make mistakes

A special committee of state lawmakers is studying eyewitness identification in crimes, and learning that people often make mistakes.

Six Georgia men have been exonerated through DNA evidence, but only after spending years in prison for crimes they did not commit.

Calvin Johnson is one of them. He was arrested in 1983 for rape and burglary. He had an alibi and forensic evidence on his side, but in court, the victim identified him as her attacker.

"She turned around. She looked at me," he told the committee. "She had a little tear on her cheek. She said 'What's the man that raped me.' At that time, my life changed. At that time, I became the victim."

Johnson spent 17 years behind bars before he was exonerated.

Over the next few months, the legislative committee will consider ways to insure that police follow the best practices when asking witnesses to identify perpetrators. They may propose a new law, new regulations, or simply better training for officers.

DNA tests "inconclusive"

DNA results in the case of convicted Atlanta Child Killer Wayne Williams are inconclusive according to Williams’ lawyer. Williams has been in prison for more than 20 years accused of killing young men and boys in Atlanta in the 1970’s and 80’s. A judge recently allowed DNA tests on dog hairs found on some of the victims to compare with hairs from Williams’ dog. Williams’ lawyer says the results don’t exclude Williams’ dog as a source of the animal hairs. But he says the tests don’t prove the hairs came from Williams’ dog. Williams’ lawyer says he believes other testing being done by the clear Williams.

DNA tests complete in Atlanta child killer case

DNA test results are back in the case of the Atlanta child killer, but investigators aren’t saying what they found. Wayne Williams is blamed for 22 murders of young men and boys in Atlanta in the 1970’s and 80’s. Williams has been in prison for more than 20 years but says he’s innocent. In February, Williams’ lawyer won the right to have DNA tests done on dog and human hairs found on some of the victims, in an effort to clear Williams. The test results are being sent to prosecutors in Atlanta.

Rape suspect challenges DNA testing

A prison inmate is challenging the Georgia law that requires DNA testing of incarcerated felons. Today Kenny Quarterman’s lawyer argued before the Georgia Supreme Court. She said Georgia laws unfairly target incarcerated felons and should be expanded to all convicted felons. State attorneys countered that DNA testing was a small price to pay to exonerate the innocent and crack cold cases. Quarterman was serving time for a cocaine conviction when police linked his DNA to a previous rape.