At 4 a.m. on August 11, 1979, an intruder broke into a home in Manchester, Georgia, where a 74-year-old woman was asleep on her couch. The man picked up her television and was going to leave when the woman awoke. When she tried to call the police, the man pulled the telephone cord out of the wall. He then demanded money. She gave him $70 from her purse. He then beat savagely and raped her, then fled out the back door.
The woman was taken to a local hospital for treatment, but no rape kit was collected due to the extent of her injuries. At her house, crime-scene investigators with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) collected pubic hairs from a bed sheet that had been on the couch at the time of the rape. They also discovered a piece of skin near the couch which was later determined to have come from a person's hand or foot.
The woman said her attacker was a young Black man. The police created a composite sketch of the attacker from her description. On September 21, 1979, 20-year-old John Jerome White was arrested on suspicion of burglarizing a mini-market in Manchester. The GBI agent who was investigating White thought White resembled the sketch.
A week later, the victim picked White out of a photographic lineup, saying she was “almost positive” he was her attacker.
On October 4, 1979, the police then put together a live lineup. White was the only person who was in both the photographic lineup and the live lineup. The fillers for the live lineup were among men who were being held in Meriwether County Jail. Among those was 26-year-old James Parham.
The woman again selected White as her attacker.
White was charged with rape, assault, burglary and robbery.
White went to trial in Meriwether County Superior Court in May 1980. The victim identified him as her attacker, although she conceded that she was not wearing her glasses at the time of the attack. She said the only light on in her apartment during the attack was a small closet light in an adjacent room. She testified that she had broken numerous bones during the attack.
A GBI agent testified that White had a cut on his hand when he was arrested. The prosecution argued that the piece of skin found at the scene was from White’s hand.
A GBI crime lab analyst also testified that the pubic hairs collected from the crime scene could have come from White. Although hair analysis cannot individualize hairs to specific individuals, the analyst testified that the hairs were “similar enough to say they have the same origin.”
On May 30, 1980, the jury convicted White of rape, robbery, assault and burglary. At his sentencing hearing, White declared, “I know I didn’t rape that lady.” He was sentenced to life in prison plus 40 years.
White was released on parole as a convicted sex offender in 1990. While on parole, he was convicted of drug possession and robbery, and in 1997 he was returned to prison to finish out the life sentence.
In 2004, the Georgia Innocence Project (GIP) sent letters to all persons in state prisons who had been convicted of rape. White was among those who responded and asked for help. GIP accepted his case and began searching for the physical evidence.
In March 2007 a law student working with GIP went to the Meriwether County Clerk’s office and found that the pubic hairs from the crime scene had been preserved. The skin collected from the crime scene had been destroyed.
The Coweta Circuit District Attorney's Office agreed to conduct DNA testing on the hairs, which were sent to the GBI Crime Lab. The tests were completed on December 6, 2007. White was excluded. The DNA profile was then submitted to the Georgia DNA database of convicted offenders. The profile was associated with Parham, who had been in the lineup with White when the victim selected White as her attacker. Parham had been convicted of other crimes after the 1979 rape, including a rape in 1985.
On December 7, 2007, White was released from prison. On December 10, 2007, White’s convictions were vacated, the charges were dismissed and he was released.
Based on the DNA evidence, prosecutors charged Parham with the rape. He pled guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
In 2009, the Georgia Legislature authorized payment of $500,000 in compensation to White.
– Maurice Possley
Posting Date: 08-29-2011
Last Update Date: 07-22-2026
