Another Settlement
The Associated Press
Friday, February 9, 2007; 7:30 PM
NEW ORLEANS -- A federal jury awarded $14 million Friday to a former death row inmate who came within weeks of execution but was exonerated.
John Thompson, 40, maintained through 18 years in prison that he was innocent of killing hotel executive Ray Liuzza, 34, during a robbery in December 1984.
In 1999, weeks before Thompson was to die, a defense investigator found a crime lab report that cleared him of the robbery charge. The blood type of the robber, found on the victim's pants, did not match Thompson's.
A judge resentenced Thompson to live in prison without parole, but the murder conviction stood until a state appeals court overturned it and ordered a new trial. Thompson was found not guilty in the retrial.
Jurors in the civil trial ordered the Orleans Parish and several current and former prosecutors to pay Thompson, said Gordon Cooney, who along with fellow attorney Michael Banks worked 14 years to have Thompson retried and acquitted.
posted by gabe at 3:32 PM
2 Comments:
these cases bring up the perverse incentives that the adversarial system creates. If the crime lab had a report exonerating someone, why would the DA continue to pursue someone until they were convicted to death. The only answer is that the DA sees "conviction" as his goal once he has a suspect rather than finding the true person who did something (or maybe both would be the goal). The shame is that an innocent person may die even though evidence of his innocence exists and is in the hands of the prosecutor (see Earl Washington).
these cases bring up the perverse incentives that the adversarial system creates. If the crime lab had a report exonerating someone, why would the DA continue to pursue someone until they were convicted to death. The only answer is that the DA sees "conviction" as his goal once he has a suspect rather than finding the true person who did something (or maybe both would be the goal). The shame is that an innocent person may die even though evidence of his innocence exists and is in the hands of the prosecutor (see Earl Washington).
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