FLOYD COUNTY, Ga. — A Georgia man who was wrongfully convicted of murdering his friend during a game of Russian Roulette in 1996 has now filed a lawsuit against the county and investigators.
In the 50-page federal lawsuit filed last week, Josh Storey claims that he was coerced into telling detectives that he had accidentally shot and killed 15-year-old Brian Bowling.
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“[Investigators] made the illusory promise that if [Storey] just admitted that he accidentally shot his friend, the case would be closed...Immediately after telling the detectives what they wanted to hear, the promise that the case would be closed disappeared, and [Storey] was arrested for involuntary manslaughter,” the lawsuit read.
His charges were later upgraded to murder and the then-17-year-old was ultimately convicted. He, along with fellow defendant Lee Clark, served 25 years in prison before being released in 2022.
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Defendants in the lawsuit include Floyd County, Police Chief Mark Wallace, former county coroner Craig Burnes and former county police officer David Stewart.
“The only reasonable conclusion that any trained detective could have arrived at was that the shooting was a tragic accident and no more,” the lawsuit reads.
Channel 2 Action News has reached out to Floyd County’s county manager and attorneys for comment.
Currently, Georgia is one of 12 states nationwide that does not have a law that compensates the wrongfully convicted after their release, according to the Georgia Innocence Project. They say the process to receive compensation from the state is long and requires a lawmaker’s assistance.
Cain Storey Lawsuit by Jennifer Smith on Scribd
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