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A Louisiana decide this week put aside the first-degree homicide conviction and dying sentence of Jimmie Chris Duncan, whose 1998 conviction for killing his girlfriend’s 23-month-old daughter was based mostly partially on chunk mark proof that specialists now say is junk science.
The choice comes after a Verite Information and ProPublica investigation in March examined the questions surrounding Duncan’s conviction as Gov. Jeff Landry, a staunch dying penalty advocate, made strikes to expedite executions after a 15-year pause.
Decide Alvin Sharp, of the 4th Judicial District in Ouachita Parish, pointed to new testimony throughout a September appeals listening to that such chunk mark evaluation offered by a once-heralded forensics staff is “not legitimate” and “not scientifically defensible.”
The unique evaluation got here from forensic dentist Michael West and pathologist Dr. Steven Hayne, whose longtime partnership as state specialists fell beneath authorized scrutiny after questions emerged concerning the validity of their methods.
Over the previous 27 years, 9 prisoners have been let out after being convicted partially on inaccurate proof given by West and Hayne. Three of these males had been on dying row.
Duncan was the final particular person awaiting an execution based mostly on the pair’s work, which Sharp stated in his ruling appeared “questionable at greatest.”
Different knowledgeable witnesses stated that Hayne’s post-mortem and his findings had been “sloppy in follow” and “insufficient general.”
“It’s price noting that the {qualifications} of Dr. Hayne had been missing in sure methods to an extent that known as into critical query” the pathologist’s “knowledgeable designation,” Sharp wrote in his ruling.
Sharp additionally said in his ruling that he discovered “very compelling” the September testimony of an knowledgeable medical witness who stated that the kid’s dying was not the results of a murder however of an unintentional drowning.
It stays unclear when — or if — Duncan will stroll free.
Robert S. Tew, district legal professional for the 4th Judicial District, can select to attraction the choice, retry Duncan on the homicide cost or a lesser offense or settle for the court docket’s ruling and set him free. Tew didn’t reply to requests for remark. Duncan’s authorized staff declined to remark.
Louisiana has a protracted document of convicting and sentencing to dying folks later discovered to be harmless. Previously three many years, the state has exonerated 11 folks dealing with execution, among the many highest such numbers within the nation, in line with The Nationwide Registry of Exonerations.
Duncan, 56, has maintained his innocence for greater than three many years, whereas prosecutors continued to insist that Duncan dedicated the homicide and ought to be executed at once.
Duncan was babysitting Haley Oliveaux, his girlfriend’s daughter, on the home they shared in West Monroe, Louisiana, on Dec. 18, 1993. He stated he had left her alone within the bathtub whereas he washed dishes. In some unspecified time in the future, he stated he heard a loud noise from the toilet. When he went to verify on Haley, he discovered her floating face down within the water. She was pronounced useless just a few hours later.
Whereas Duncan claimed it was a tragic accident, authorities charged him with first-degree homicide after Hayne and West examined the lady’s physique and decided there was proof she was sexually assaulted and deliberately drowned. After about two weeks of testimony in 1998, the jury discovered Duncan responsible and sentenced him to dying.
Years later, Duncan’s post-conviction attorneys uncovered proof that was not offered at trial that, they stated, proves his innocence. This features a jailhouse informant who wrote to prosecutors providing to share Duncan’s confession to the crime in what the protection claims was an change for leniency (the informant later recanted his trial testimony); previous head accidents Haley suffered that may clarify her dying; and a video during which West could be seen grinding a solid of Duncan’s enamel into Haley’s physique. West later claimed these chunk marks, which the protection says the forensic dentist manufactured, had been a match for Duncan’s enamel.
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Hayne died in 2020. West didn’t instantly reply to requests for touch upon the ruling.
West has beforehand stated he was merely utilizing what he known as a “direct comparability” approach, during which he presses a mildew of an individual’s enamel instantly onto the placement of suspected chunk marks as a result of it supplies probably the most correct outcomes, in line with a 2020 interview with Oxygen.com.
West stated he not believed in chunk mark evaluation in a 2011 deposition in a distinct post-conviction attraction, saying, “I don’t consider it’s a system that’s dependable sufficient for use in court docket” and admitted to creating errors in earlier instances. However he advised The New Republic in a 2023 interview that his strategies are legitimate as a result of different folks have used them.
On this week’s ruling, Sharp additionally famous the September testimony of Detective Chris Sasser, who investigated Haley’s dying. Sasser stated there was “no blood, no indicators of battle, no cleansing rags and no cleansing brokers” within the lavatory or home the place the alleged crime occurred. This undermined the state’s assertion that there was “huge blood loss,” the ruling stated.
As well as, Sharp discovered that Duncan’s trial legal professional, Louis Scott, offered ineffective counsel. Sharp pointed to a witness who testified that Scott didn’t “examine or current proof that was accessible on the time of the trial,” that he didn’t “develop a coherent concept of protection,” and that he didn’t disclose a battle of curiosity.
Scott’s spouse advised Verite Information and ProPublica that he has suffered important well being issues together with reminiscence and speech impairment and declined to touch upon the decide’s ruling.
Duncan is amongst 55 folks on dying row in Louisiana, although till very lately he and the others weren’t in imminent hazard of being executed because the state hadn’t put anybody to dying since 2010 because of the unavailability of execution medicine. That modified with Landry’s 2023 election.
Landry has made clear his intention to hold out these dying sentences as quickly as doable, having lately authorized the usage of nitrogen fuel, a controversial technique allowed in solely three different states.
This cleared the way in which for the state’s first execution in additional than 15 years, as Jessie Hoffman was put to dying on March 18 utilizing nitrogen fuel.
