Second man to sue Floyd County over 1996 wrongful murder conviction
A second man is suing investigators in connection with his conviction after spending a quarter century in prison for a murder he didn’t commit.
Josh Storey now lives in Cobb County.
He was convicted in 1996 of killing his friend Travis Bowling in Floyd County.
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He was only 17 years old when he was arrested and released 25 years later.
He has no work experience and only got his driver’s license a few months ago.
He hopes this lawsuit can somehow compensate him for the time he has lost and help him avoid other wrongful convictions.
“He walks to work every day, shows up at Burger King and learns the skills he never learned as a child,” Proof Podcast’s Susan Simpson told Channel 2.
She is behind the podcast that investigated the case against Storey and his friend Lee Clark.
The podcast found evidence that raised enough doubt for prosecutors to release the men in 2022 after serving 25 years in prison.
The two were accused of killing Bowling during a game of Russian roulette.
But in a lawsuit filed by Storey’s attorneys against Floyd County and investigators, they say Storey was coerced into a false confession.
And Simpson said that’s not all.
“For that case to happen, to get a conviction out of nowhere, they had to force one witness to falsely implicate them and falsely claim that she heard a confession that she never heard,” Simpson said.
After the podcast, Storey pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter for supplying the gun that killed his friend.
He was released for time served and his record was cleared.
“He didn’t have the family support that some of the others I’ve worked with, and some of the other cases I’ve worked on, have had, so he’s currently living in a motel,” Simpson said.
The lawsuit and Simpson want a reward large enough to prevent other wrongful convictions.
“Especially in Floyd County, where we know there have been other cases of wrongful convictions,” Simpson said.
Channel 2 has reached out to Floyd County and their attorneys for comment but has not received a response.
Channel 2’s Candace McCowan said getting compensation after wrongful imprisonment is not easy in Georgia.
Georgia is one of the few states that does not have a law compensating wrongfully convicted persons after their release.
TRENDING STORIES:
You have to go through the legislature.
Attempts to do this earlier this year for two wrongly convicted people were passed by the House, but never heard in the Senate.
That is why they are now going to court.
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