Louisiana Supreme Court Frees Death Row Inmate, Calling Evidence Against Him 'Scientifically Indefensible'

Former Louisiana death row inmate Jimmie "Chris" Duncan is officially a free man following a unanimous ruling Monday by the Louisiana Supreme Court. The court upheld a lower court's decision to overturn his 1998 conviction for killing his former girlfriend’s toddler, Haley Oliveaux, citing flawed forensic practices used in his trial.

Justice Cade R. Cole wrote on behalf of the seven-member court that new evidence presented by Duncan’s legal team left no doubt about the need to reverse his sentence. He emphasized how post-conviction findings undermined key factual premises upon which prosecutors relied during the original case.

Two other justices including Chief Justice John Weimer issued concurrences with Cole’s opinion expressing strong support for reversing the verdict and freeing an innocent person from execution. Chris Fabricant, part of Duncan’s defense team said he was overwhelmed with relief at this outcome as it would have been morally unacceptable if the state had proceeded with executing him based on faulty science.

The landmark judgment came after extensive investigations conducted jointly between Verite News and ProPublica into whether bite mark analysis could be trusted or not when determining guilt in capital cases like Duncan’s. At time of writing, he faced potential lethal injection due to Governor Jeff Landry pushing forward executions after years without any carried out.

Duncan’s initial sentencing hinged largely around now-discredited dental impressions made using Michael West and Steven Hayne who claimed they matched marks found inside Haley's body against those belonging to her alleged killer. However experts later determined such methods were unreliable even back then making them examples of junk forensic practices.