Two Georgia men who spent 25 years in prison for the murder of a 15-year-old boy have been freed from prison after new evidence about the case was uncovered in a true crime podcast.
Lee Clark and Joshua Storey were just 17 when they were accused of murdering Brian Bowling during a game of Russian Roulette in 1996.
Now 43, the men walked free from Floyd County jail last week after their murder convictions were overturned by the Rome Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office.
Their exoneration was largely due to an investigation by Proof: A True Crime Podcast and the Georgia Innocence Project that revealed new witness testimony showing that the convictions were faulty.
In a statement, Mr Clark thanked the podcast hosts and the criminal justice reform organisation.
“Never would I have thought I would spend more than half my life in prison, especially for something I didn’t do. I’m just glad the truth finally came to light after 25 years,” Mr Clark said. “I’m so thankful for the Georgia Innocence Project and Proof Podcast for what they did. Without them, I would still be in prison.”
The investigators were able to show there was “official misconduct” by law enforcement officials after the death of Bowling at his home on 18 October 1996.
Bowling’s best friend Joshua Storey had brought a gun to the address and the pair were playing a game of Russian Roulette, according to a summary of the case by the Georgia Innocence Project.
Bowling was on the phone to his girlfriend when the gun went off.
Investigators initially believed Mr Storey’s account that his friend had accidentally shot himself in the head, and planned to charge him with manslaughter.
However, under pressure from Bowling’s grieving family, they began a homicide investigation several months later.
They spoke to a witness described as a party hostess who claimed she had overheard the teenagers confessing to the murder because Bowling “knew too much” about a theft they had committed.
Despite Mr Clark having an alibi for the night of Bowling’s death, a hearing and speech impaired witness claimed to have seen him running from the home on the night Bowling died.
Both were convicted of murder and conspiracy to commit murder after a one-week trial and sentenced to life in prison.
In 2021, the podcast hosts Susan Simpson and Jacinda Davis reinterviewed witnesses and discovered two key pieces of evidence that had been withheld from the jury.
The party hostess told them law enforcement officers had threatened to take her children away from her unless she agreed to make the false incriminating statement and testimony.
The second witness told the podcast hosts he hadn’t identified Mr Clark as being at the home on the night Bowling had died, and this had been misunderstood at trial due to his speech impediment.
After their release, Mr Clark told WSB-TV he bore no resentment for spending a quarter of a century behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit.
“I ain’t toting no anger behind it because toting anger don’t accomplish anything,” Mr Clark said.
Mr Storey told the network he was happy to be free and spending Christmas with his family.
Georgia is one of 12 states that doesn’t provide financial relief for people who are wrongly convicted and imprisoned.
Friends of Mr Storey have set up a GoFundMe page to help him get “as he learns to navigate through life as a free and exonerated man”.
A fundraiser has also been established for Mr Clark at MightyCause.com.
