Georgia man acquitted after 29 years files civil rights suit

ATLANTA -- A Georgia man says he was frightened into pleading guilty for a murder he didn't commit after police dangled him off a bridge three decades ago, brought charges against his parents and threatened him with the death penalty.

Timothy R. Johnson was 22 in September 1984 when he was arrested and charged in the shooting of a Warner Robins convenience store clerk. He pleaded guilty that December -- though he says he didn't commit the crime -- and was sentenced to life in prison.

In 2006, the Georgia Supreme Court overturned his conviction, saying there was nothing to indicate he understood his rights. It took seven more years before he was able to make his case before a jury, which found him not guilty.

He filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Monday alleging Warner Robins police officers and Houston County sheriff's deputies arrested him without probable cause and participated in malicious prosecution. During 29 years at Georgia State Prison and in the Houston County jail, he was placed in solitary confinement part of the time and given little access to exercise or other people, the lawsuit says. At the state prison, he was beaten routinely, it says.

The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages.

Department of Corrections spokeswoman Gwendolyn Hogan Houston County Sheriff Cullen Talton said they could not comment.

Now 53, Johnson spends time with his parents and marvels at how different everything is. "I'm feeling blessed to be out here," he said. -- AP