ROME, Ga. - A man who spent more than 25 years in prison for a crime he says he did not commit is suing Floyd County, alleging misconduct and coercion by investigators. Josh Storey, convicted in 1996 of murdering his friend Travis Bowling, claims he was coerced into admitting to the crime.

Storey's conviction, along with that of co-defendant Joey Clark, was overturned in 2022 after evidence revealed that Bowling shot himself during a game of Russian roulette. Witness testimony initially implicated the two men, but no autopsy was conducted to verify the cause of Bowling's death, according to the lawsuit.

Storey pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter for providing the gun Bowling used and was released for time served. Clark, however, was fully exonerated. Storey is now suing Floyd County and several former investigators with the Floyd County Police Department, alleging multiple failures in the case.

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Clark filed a separate lawsuit against Floyd County last month, naming the same former officers. Both lawsuits seek accountability for what they describe as serious miscarriages of justice.

The lawsuits also highlight Georgia's lack of statutory compensation for the wrongfully convicted, one of only 12 states without such laws. According to the Innocence Project, the average compensation for wrongful imprisonment in Georgia is $39,000 per year, compared to $80,000 per year in Texas.

At the time of their release, both Storey and Clark were 43 years old. Storey's lawsuit comes nearly two years after his release, as he continues to seek justice for what he says was a devastating and wrongful imprisonment.