Georgia man wrongfully convicted of murder finally cleared after 73 years
Judge formally dismisses charges against Clarence Henderson
Clarence Henderson's name has finally been cleared after 73 years. He was wrongfully convicted three time of murder, each time by an all-white jury. Henderson, who is Black, had each conviction overturned by the Supreme Court of Georgia. His family says they are thankful this shadow no longer looms over their family. The man who killed Carl "Buddy" Stevens still remains a mystery.
ATLANTA - It took 73 years, but now the name of a man wrongfully convicted of murder is finally cleared. A Carroll County judge Thursday officially dismissed the charges against Clarence Henderson.
All-white juries convicted Henderson, a Black man, three times for killing a white man decades ago. The Supreme Court of Georgia overturned the case each time due to lack of evidence.
Judge Erica Tisinger officially dismissed the charges against Henderson in the same courtroom where those three juries found him guilty of murdering Carl "Buddy" Stevens in 1948.
Henderson was a Black sharecropper. Stevens was a white Army veteran killed while defending his girlfriend from a man she said was trying to rape her.
Henderson died years ago, but the Coweta Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office reserved the right to retry the case. That specter loomed over Henderson’s family for decades, until now. Judge Tisinger granted the district attorney's motion to dismiss those charges.
"Obviously, the right thing to do was to what we did here today," said Jep Bendinger, chief assistant district attorney with the Coweta Judicial Circuit, which covers Carroll County. "He is and remains an innocent man."
Man wrongfully convicted of murder cleared after 73 years
Clarence Henderson's name has finally been cleared after 73 years. He was wrongfully convicted three time of murder, each time by an all-white jury. Henderson, who is Black, had each conviction overturned by the Supreme Court of Georgia. His family says they are thankful this shadow no longer looms over their family. The man who killed Carl "Buddy" Stevens still remains a mystery.
The descendants of Henderson and Stevens hugged after the judge’s ruling.
"I am elated because it was something that was always in our family history, and it’s like finally, thank you," said Melody Darden, Henderson’s granddaughter.
"We take some solace in seeing the system do the right thing," said Michael Holmes, Stevens’s second cousin.
The question of who killed Stevens remains a mystery, but Holmes said at least Henderson’s family got some measure of justice.
"It would’ve been an injustice for the charges against Mr. Henderson to remain open," Holmes said.
Henderson spent five years behind bars. His family fought for years to clear his name, but now justice arrives decades later with his case dismissed.