by Sam Gentry

World-renowned photographer Jan Banning is back in Carroll County from the Netherlands continuing his quest to help free Christina Boyer from prison. Banning believes Boyer, who has been in Pulaski Women’s Prison in Hawkinsville, Georgia for the death of her three-year-old daughter, Amber, for 26 years, was undoubtedly wrongfully convicted.

As stated in the June print edition of StarNews (visit starnewsgaonline.com for complete story), Banning- who has published numerous photography books around the world – was working on a new series about women in prisons (He wanted to do much of the series in the United States) when he discovered Boyer’s story.

Because he had worked in Georgia on a book called “Down and Out in the South,” Banning was able to use his prior contacts and resources to make the photo shoot happen. He was personally given permission by then commissioner of the Georgia Department of Corrections, Brian Owens, to do photography in five Georgia prisons. Banning had no idea at the time that the final prison he would shoot in – Pulaski – would change the course of his life.

After completing the sessions and returning home, Banning decided to dig deeper into the stories behind the women he had shot photos of (He was not allowed to have discussions with them during the sessions). Banning wanted to tell as much of a story about each of the prisoners as possible. After he began putting together what he deemed to be the best photographs, he started researching the women on the internet. He found a great deal of intriguing information, he said, but one story stuck out to him the most. The story of Christina Boyer.

“The first thing I thought was that something really strange is going on here,” he said. “Something is deeply wrong.”

Through his research, Banning began learning facts and discovering detailed information which led him to feel that, quite possibly, Boyer had been falsely incarcerated for the murder of her daughter (visit starnewsgaonline.com for the full story of Christina Boyer).

Christina’s boyfriend, David Herrin, went on trial three months after Christina was sentenced. He was sentenced to 20 years for cruelty to children and was paroled in 2011.

“During David’s trial, several pieces of information came to light lending credence to Christina’s claims of innocence,” Banning said.

Banning believes this information could be entered as new evidence in Boyer’s case, although it is now decades old.

“Additional testimony during David’s trial casts more doubts on Christina’s ‘guilt,’” Banning said. “Dr. Steven Dunton, who completed the autopsy report, told the court that, considering Amber’s head injuries, she would have only seemed ‘perfectly fine’ for about 15-30 minutes after sustaining the brain damage. By his own testimony, David said that Amber was behaving normally several hours after Boyer left her daughter in his care and was away for about 6 hours – meaning it is medically impossible for Boyer to have caused the injuries that led to her daughter’s death.”

At current, Banning continues to fully believe that whatever happened to Amber, Boyer played no part in the actions that led to her death.

“One thing is clear,” he said. “Christina could never have done it.”

During his latest return to America, Banning is seeking the help of several departments at the University of West Georgia to not only help tell the story of Christina Boyer, but to also help him gain support for the cause of freeing her.

“My idea is to combine the three disciplines of academics, the arts, and journalism to try to get Christina exonerated and free,” Banning said. “There is a fourth aspect, the legal aspect of this, but we will get there.”

Banning said Carrollton is the obvious place to continue his mission.

“This is where it happened,” he said. “I assume there are people here who remember the case and may feel strongly about it – whether negatively or positively.”

At UWG, Banning said several Criminology staff members and a graduate student have agreed to help him.

“They are just wonderful and can’t wait to get into this,” he said.

Others from the college who have offered to assist Banning are staff from the Phycology department, students from the UWG theatre group (who may potentially use the story for a theatre piece), and several Photography students.Since his return, Banning has also been contacted by the head of the Law department at Georgetown University who stated that the story was “haunting” and who offered to use Banning’s information on Boyer in a class and potentially for a television series the university is associated with concerning wrongful convictions.

During his first 2018 trip to the U.S. in June, Banning originally sought the help of StarNews publisher Sue Horn in his quest, as she had researched, written and published a story on the case in what was then the Carroll Star News on January 20th, 2008. In the story, Horn cast doubt on Boyer’s guilt. Banning discovered the article online on a website dedicated to helping Boyer gain freedom.

Banning’s photography has been featured in Time, National Geographic, Newsweek, Virginia Quarterly Review, and The New Yorker, to name a few. Around the world, his work has been featured in publications in Japan, China, Holland, France, Russia, Germany, and many other countries. A full list of his accolades can be found at janbanning.com.

Although Banning has enjoyed amazing success and continues to build on is photography portfolio, he still has one goal he feels he must accomplish, and that is to see Christin Boyer “released from prison.”