ROME, Ga. — A man who spent more than two decades in prison, for a murder he did not commit, is officially exonerated. Joey Watkins credits the Georgia Innocence Project and a podcast for uncovering new evidence, proving his innocence.
"Time stops. My life stopped at 19," Watkins said. "Then I come out at 42... it's crazy."
For 23 years, Watkins fought to live life outside of prison walls. Those were walls he was never meant to be in. On Thursday night, that fight officially came to a close.
"It's kind of unreal right now... still isn't sitting with me that it's finally over," he said.
Floyd County Superior Court Judge Bryan Johnson approved a motion from the District Attorney to dismiss the case Thursday after the Georgia Innocence Project introduced new evidence clearing Watkins that was uncovered since the trial.
Atlanta attorney Noah Pines, and other attorneys who worked with the Georgia Innocence Project on Watkins’ case, called Watkins with the news Thursday.
“I was crying. I had tears in my eyes. It sounded like he was crying,” Pines said. “It's an incredible day to be able to tell somebody, ‘Your nightmare that started more than 22 years ago is finally over’.”
Watkins, who was then 19, had been falsely accused of pulling up next to a pickup truck on U.S. 27 just south of Downtown Rome — a pickup driven by an acquaintance, Isaac Dawkins, 20 -- and shooting Dawkins in the head, supposedly in a dispute over a woman.
“I pray that the Dawkins family will do what the D.A.'s office did: sit down and look at the whole case. I stand on what I told him 20-something years ago: I did not do this, I did not take your son. Please look at the evidence, that’s all I ask," Watkins said.
Watkins was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
But the podcast “Undisclosed” later uncovered new evidence: cell phone records that proved Watkins had been miles away.
"Clare Gilbert, she was coming to see me for the Innocence Project and the Innocence Project was kind of in trouble, they didn’t have funding so she was spending money out of her own pocket to help me," Watkins said. "She said, 'I’m not going to give up on you, I’m going to keep fighting for you.' She came back to see me about three weeks to a month later and said, 'I got a question... do you want to do a podcast?', and I said, 'What is a podcast?'"
Attorney Clare Gilbert with the Georgia Innocence Project told 11Alive in 2017 that that cell tower evidence was suppressed at the trial.
“There was scientific proof through the cell records that Joey could not have committed this crime, and they failed to disclose that or turn that over to the defense,” Gilbert said.
The appeals have taken years.
Finally, Watkins was released on bond in January, and ordered to wear an ankle monitor, to wait for the District Attorney to decide whether to try him again for murder.
Georgia Innocence Project Senior Attorney Christina Cribbs said they've been fighting to get the charges dropped for years.
"Joey has been out of prison for eight months but Joey has been living every day with murder charges still hanging over his head knowing he’s an innocent person and there’s no way they can prove a case against him," she said.
During his more than two decades in prison, Watkins said he learned to play guitar, learned new languages - including Portuguese and Spanish - and got certified in automotives.
Now, he said he plans on traveling the world with his family by his side, including his niece, Chloe Smith.
"We are absolutely the happiest we've ever been to have him home," Smith said. "Everyone was hoping and praying that somebody would just see that this man is innocent – to listen and know that we’re telling the truth. He deserves that. I’m really glad he finally got that.”
There is no indication from prosecutors whether they will be able to try to find out who killed Isaac Dawkins, to give his family some resolution and justice.
One of the judges in the case had written earlier that evidence all along suggested it might have been a random road rage killer.
But it was never Joey Watkins.
“I think the justice system is still broken," Watkins said. "As an inmate or prisoner, the hope for us, if we have no money or help, that there's organizations like the Innocence Project, as they grow and get bigger and get more help, that's what I have faith in."