Warner Robins Man Sues over ‘Wrongful Incarceration'

A Warner Robins man who spent 29 years in prison for a murder he did not commit has filed a lawsuit over his arrest and conviction.

In his lawsuit, Timothy Johnson alleges officers in Houston County abused him after his original arrest. He said he decided to plead guilty under physical threat to the 1984 murder of convenience store clerk Taressa Stanley, who was killed during an armed robbery. Johnson said he is innocent.

Johnson was kept in solitary confinement for 15 years before the Georgia Supreme Court threw out the original conviction in 2006, ruling that Johnson was not properly advised of his rights.

Prosecutors decided to re-try Johnson, and in December 2013, a Houston County jury deliberated for about 3 hours before finding Johnson not guilty of the murder.

Johnson is suing Houston County in federal court, claiming more than half his life was taken away from him. He said the criminal justice system “did a number on me.”

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