District Attorney Paul Connick has agreed that Ryan Matthews, a juve­nile offend­er on Louisiana’s death row, deserves a new tri­al. Matthews has main­tained his inno­cence since his arrest. Attorneys for Matthews will use the retri­al as an oppor­tu­ni­ty to present new DNA evi­dence that they believe exon­er­ates their client. Testing of sev­en DNA pro­files gath­ered as part of key evi­dence in the case excludes Matthews as the offend­er, and sev­er­al point to the guilt of anoth­er man, Rondell Love. After Matthews was arrest­ed, Love was con­vict­ed of anoth­er mur­der that occurred near the scene of the mur­der for which Matthews was con­vict­ed. Barry Scheck, co-founder of the New York-based Innocence Project, said, ​“District Attorney Paul Connick pur­sued every test that could have helped to decide this case. These all point to Ryan Matthews’ inno­cence. Mr. Connick has eval­u­at­ed the results in an hon­or­able and fair way. I applaud his deci­sion today. This is the way that the sys­tem ought to work.” (Los Angeles Times, April 15, 2004 and Louisiana Crisis Assistance Center Press Release). See Innocence. See Juvenile Death Penalty.

Citation Guide