"Innocent until proven guilty" not applicable in Louisiana

The first person in Louisiana awarded money under a program created to compensate the wrongfully convicted had the judgment overturned last week by a state appeal court. The ruling by the 1st circuit court of Appeal in Baton Rouge means Calvin Williams, who spent 15 years and eight months at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola following a 1977 first-degree murder conviction in New Orleans, must go back to court.

Williams had been awarded $150,000 by state District Judge Curtis Calloway on March 22, 2007. But the appeal court said Calloway erred by not allowing attorneys with the state Attorney General's Office to ask Williams questions during the 2007 hearing. The court set aside the damage award and ordered Calloway to continue the hearing, this time allowing Williams to be questioned by assistant state attorneys general.

Louis Heyd Jr., an attorney for Williams, said Tuesday no decision has been made on whether to ask the Louisiana Supreme Court to review the 1st Circuit ruling, but he doubts he will object to Calloway continuing the hearing. "We're trying to establish some guidelines for these cases," Heyd said.

Williams was convicted of being a principal to first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison in the shooting death of Keith Norse. According to the 1st Circuit ruling, Williams was granted a new trial after it was determined his trial lawyers did not receive a police report that contained inconsistencies in the testimony of one witness. The ruling also indicates the witness could not identify Williams in a police photo lineup.

After Orleans Parish prosecutors chose to not bring the case back to trial, Williams was released from the penitentiary in 1992 and on Aug. 19, 1996, the murder charge was dismissed. In the ruling, the 1st Circuit determined that the 2005 state law that created the compensation program requires an inmate "prove by clear and convincing" evidence that he is "factually innocent" of the crime for which he went to prison.

During the hearing, Williams claimed to be innocent of the charge and claimed that a coat, taken from his room and allegedly worn by the person who did commit the 1976 murder, could not have fit him at the time of trial. Calloway refused to allow assistant attorneys general to question Williams, claiming that would amount to a retrial of Williams' case. The 1st Circuit ruled that Calloway should have allowed the questioning because Williams had the burden of proving he was "factually innocent" of the crime.

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