New Orleans DA's office trying to dodge penalty for deliberate wrongful comviction

The Supreme Court back went back into session Monday, and one case that will watched closely in New Orleans is set for oral arguments Wednesday.

In the case of Thompson vs. Connick, former death row inmate John Thompson was awarded $14 million to compensate for his wrongful conviction for murder. Thompson was 22 years old when he was convicted of killing hotel executive Ray Liuzza during a robbery.

He was weeks away from execution when his attorneys showed that prosecutors under former District Attorney Harry Connick intentionally withheld a crime lab report that helped prove his innocence. Thompson served 18 years in prison – 14 on death row – before he was retried in 2003.

At that second trial, a jury came back with a not guilty verdict after deliberating for only 35 minutes.

At issue before the high court is whether district attorneys can be forced to pay damages for failing to properly train prosecutors on how to handle evidence favorable to defendants. Lower courts upheld Thompson’s civil court judgment, putting the district attorney’s office on the defensive to overturn a judgment it says will bankrupt the office.

Assistant Attorney General Kyle Duncan will argue on behalf of the district attorneys office, while a team of out-of-state attorneys will represent Thompson. Several local attorneys are flying to Washington to hear the oral arguments first-hand, including Emily Maw, director of Innocence Project New Orleans.

“For prosecutors who withhold evidence, there actually are very rarely consequences, except the reversal of convictions down the line,” Maw said. “When people withhold evidence, innocent people go to prison. And there, as yet, has been no good system of accountability put in place.”

Thompson now serves as the director of Resurrection After Exoneration, a local organization he started after his release to help exonerated inmates readjust to society.

Original report here




(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here