ADEL, Ga. — A Georgia man spent more than a year in jail for failing to pay child support for a child that wasn't his, but he was released after DNA tests showed he wasn't the father.
Frank Hatley, 50, had been jailed since June 2008 for not making payments, but two separate DNA tests in the last nine years showed he was not the father of the boy, who is now 21.
Southern Center for Human Rights attorney Sarah Geraghty won Hatley's release at a hearing Wednesday in Superior Court. A court order has also relieved him of his financial obligation to the Georgia Department of Human Resources.
"Out of it all, I just feel like justice should be served for me in this case," Hatley told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution after his release. "I shouldn't have to keep being punished for a child that is not mine."
