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Ex-inmate near execution awarded $14 million
La. man cleared in killing spent 18 years in prison, most on death row
 | Video: Crime & courts |
 Lockup Pendleton Juvenile Extended Stay: Under Pressure As one of the largest maximum-security juvenile prisons in the country, Pendleton is responsible for educating and rehabilitating teenage gang members, sex offenders and juveniles with mental health issues for the Indiana Department of Correction. And on any given day inside the razor wire fences, anything can happen. During our 6 months inside, we learned some days can be even more chaotic than most...As one official says, "When it rains, we don’t have enough buckets. |
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. Along with fellow attorney Michael Banks, Cooney worked 14 years to have Thompson retried and acquitted.
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