ATLANTA (AP) — The Georgia House has approved a move to pay more than $700,000 to a Georgia man who was wrongly convicted of rape.

The House voted 122-34 Friday to pay 48-year-old Jerome White, who was convicted in 1979 of raping a Meriwether County woman. He was released in 2007 after DNA testing showed he was not involved in the crime.

State Rep. Carolyn Hugley, a Columbus Democrat who sponsored the measure, says the state owes the money to White after wrongly imprisoning him for almost three decades.

But the measure prompted criticism from Republicans who said that while White was exonerated of the rape charges, he was found guilty of a separate burglary charge.

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On the Net:

House Resolution 161: http://www.legis.state.ga.us