Jimmie “Chris” Duncan walked out of the Ouachita Parish Correctional Center and into the arms of his parents last week after spending the last 27 years on death row.
Seven months ago, a Louisiana district court judge vacated his murder conviction for killing his former girlfriend’s toddler, citing doubts about the evidence used to convict him. The judge granted bail after multiple legal delays, including an unsuccessful request by prosecutors to the Louisiana Supreme Court to stop his release. Now free, Duncan spent Thanksgiving with his family — then celebrated his 57th birthday the next day.
But Duncan’s journey to freedom is far from over. Prosecutors have asked the state Supreme Court to reinstate his death sentence. Duncan’s attorneys declined to make him immediately available for an interview.
But moooom I wanted to kill that man because I like the feeling of power it gives me, it’s not faiiiiir
-The prosecutors, probably
Basically they’re terrified that this might open doors. That’s almost always what it is. They’re scared that someone might start asking questions about OTHER cases and saying “hey, what if those were wrongfully decided as well?”. A lot of states love executing people who are problematic - poor people, people of color, mentally disabled people - because it’s easier for police to pin literally whatever on them in order to clear up a backlog or to make themselves look competent.
In 1998 Marcellus Williams was convicted of murder. During the appeals processes it was found that he was not a match for any of the copious forensic evidence at the crime scene. He was convicted entirely on the testimony of two people with long records of lying to authorities and who stood to gain leniency in prosecutions for unrelated matters in exchange for their testimony. The prosecutor and the victims family spoke out against the push to execute him, in light of the exculpatory evidence.
It was ultimately determined that being innocent wasn’t a good enough reason not to execute, and he was killed in September of last year. 22 years in prison and then executed despite no evidence he committed the crime and strong evidence that he didn’t.
If being provably innocent isn’t enough to stop an execution, then what possibly could be?
If I was him I would gtfo out of the entire united states.
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This is the kind of thing underground railroads are for.
He was exonerated and still had to pay bail to get out?
Exonerated might not be the correct term. His murder conviction was vacated and death sentence set aside, which is different from saying he is exonerated.
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Death penalty aside, leaving a toddler alone in a bathtub is really bad. And if it were my child, I’d just kill the guy myself.
And if I were on a jury I’d put you in prison for however long it takes for a team of therapists to agree you felt remorse and could be rehabilitated.
If you left your child with him it could be argued you share in the blame. If you had any inkling that he wasn’t capable.
We waste so much money punishing people and so little on helping people heal and grow. Vengeance is no salve despite what Hollywood would have you believe.
