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A travesty of justice corrected after 25 years. Or is it?<\/p>\n
By: JOSHUA SHARPE<\/strong><\/p>\n Georgia House members voted Thursday night to compensate three former U.S. Army soldiers for the 25 years they lost in prison before their murder convictions were overturned.<\/p>\n The legislation, which passed with wide bipartisan support, now moves to the state Senate for consideration. The trio of bills would pay Mark Jones, Kenny Gardiner and Dominic Lucci $1 million each. The money would be paid out over 20 years, as is typical in such cases. An economist hired by Karsman McKenzie Hart, the Savannah law firm representing the veterans, found that they would have made $3 million if they had stayed in the military, as they\u2019d planned to do before they were charged with murder in 1992.<\/p>\n The soldiers, who were the subjects of a recent Atlanta Journal-Constitution article and have always maintained their innocence, are tremendously relieved to be free, but the damage to their lives is done.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve always been that guy who wanted the American Dream \u2014 the family, the home, the two and a half kids. That\u2019s what I\u2019ve always wanted to be, what I\u2019ve always dreamed of,\u201d said Jones, who was 20 when he was arrested and is now nearing 50. \u201cAnd the odds of that happening now are pretty slim.\u201d<\/p>\n The Fort Stewart soldiers were arrested in Savannah on Jan. 31, 1992, in the murder of Stanley Jackson, a 35-year-old Marine veteran who was gunned down in a drive-by shooting while walking along the street. The defendants were in town for a bachelor party for Jones, who was supposed to marry the next morning but had to call off the wedding.<\/p>\n On the way to a strip club, the soldiers got lost and asked a police officer for directions. The officer happened to be walking the shooting\u2019s only eyewitness, the Rev. James White, into a police station for an interview. White told the officer that the soldiers\u2019 vehicle, a black sports car, resembled the one driven by the shooters. White later identified the defendants as the men he\u2019d seen kill Jackson, though he has since said he was lying because of intense pressure from officials and community leaders to help solve the case.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Georgia robbed them of their youth, shorts them 2\/3 of what they would have earned, and the good Rev. White will face no repercussions for his lies. Yeah, that sounds fair.
\nRead the rest here: American Military News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"