The Intercept: “MORE THAN 20 YEARS after Devonia Inman was sentenced to life in prison for a murder he swears he did not commit, a judge in Georgia has overturned his conviction, writing that state misconduct and woefully inadequate defense lawyering rendered Inman’s 2001 conviction unconstitutional.
“Either of these constitutional violations, standing alone, demonstrates the fundamental unfairness of Mr. Inman’s trial, undermines the court’s confidence in the outcome of that trial and related conviction, and justifies granting … relief,” Lookout Mountain Chief Judge Kristina Cook Graham wrote in a 28-page order filed November 16.
The ruling sets up a choice for the state: Retry Inman for the 1998 murder of 43-year-old Donna Brown or release him. “We are hopeful that the court’s order will finally bring an end to this matter, and that Mr. Inman will be reunited with his family as soon as possible,” said Tom Reilly, one of Inman’s attorneys.
Inman’s case was the subject of “Murderville, Georgia,” a podcast and four-part series released by The Intercept in 2018. The investigation revealed how shoddy police work by local law enforcement and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation not only led to a wrongful conviction, but also left the real murderer free to kill again.
Brown was a single mother and the night manager at a Taco Bell in Adel, a small town in South Georgia. She was shot in the face on September 19, 1998, while leaving work. The killer took a bank bag containing $1,700 that Brown was carrying, along with her car, which was dumped in the nearby parking lot of an abandoned Pizza Hut. While the money was never found, a key piece of evidence was left in the car: a homemade mask made from a pair of gray sweatpants, with eyeholes cut out of it.
Neither the mask nor any other physical evidence tied Inman to the crime. Multiple witnesses who initially implicated Inman recanted their statements at his 2001 trial. Nevertheless, he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.”