Louisiana death row inmate freed after nearly 30 years as overturned conviction upends case
A Louisiana man who spent nearly 30 years on death row walked out of prison Wednesday after a judge overturned his conviction and granted him bail.
Jimmie Duncan, now in his 60s, was sentenced to death in 1998 for the alleged rape and drowning of his girlfriend’s 23-month-old daughter, Haley Oliveaux — a case long clouded by disputed forensic testimony. His release comes months after a state judge ruled that the evidence prosecutors used to secure the conviction was unreliable and rooted in discredited bite-mark analysis.
Fourth Judicial District Court Judge Alvin Sharp tossed the conviction in April, concluding that the expert testimony presented at trial was "not scientifically defensible" and that the toddler’s death appeared consistent with an accidental drowning.
The presumption is not great that he is guilty," Sharp wrote in his order last week granting Duncan bail, pointing to new evidence presented at an evidentiary hearing last year and the fact that the man had no previous criminal history.
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