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State And Federal Info

Louisiana

Famous Cases

Connick v. Thompson, 563 U.S. 51 (2011)

John Thompson was convicted of robbery and murder, and spent 18 years in prison, 14 of which were spent on death row, before being exonerated. Shortly before Thompson’s scheduled execution, an investigator discovered that prosecutors had hidden blood evidence that exonerated Thompson.

Mr. Thompson sued the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office, the District Attorney, Harry Connick, in his official and individual capacities, and several assistant district attorneys in their official capacities under 42 U.S.C § 1983 in a Louisiana federal district court. The jury awarded Mr. Thompson $14 million against Mr. Connick in his official capacity.

In a 5-4 decision, the US Supreme Court held that a prosecutor’s office could not be held liable for the illegal conduct of one of its prosecutors when there has been only one violation resulting from that deficient training. In dissent Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan argued that the evidence “established persistent, deliberately indifferent conduct for which the District Attorney’s Office bears responsibility under §1983.”

Kennedy v. Louisiana, 554 US 407 (2008)

Kennedy v. Louisiana barred the death penalty from being used in non-homicide offenses. In a 5-4 decision the Court held that the Eighth Amendment bars states from imposing the death penalty for the rape of a child where the crime did not result in the child’s death. The majority opinion found that applying the death penalty in such a case would be an exercise of “cruel and unusual punishment” in violation of a national consensus on the issue.

Roberts v. Louisiana, 428 U.S. 325 (1976)

Stanislaus Roberts v. Louisiana was one of the five death penalty cases the Supreme Court decided on July 2, 1976 when it ruled in Gregg v. Georgia that the death penalty did not invariably constitute cruel and unusual punishment. However, in a 5-4 vote, the Court declared that Louisiana’s capital punishment statute, which made the death penalty mandatory for certain murders was unconstitutional because it did not allow for consideration of mitigating factors or the exercise of mercy to spare a defendant’s life. The Supreme Court took up another Louisiana case in 1977 to determine whether a mandatory death sentence could be imposed in the limited circumstance of the murder of a law enforcement officer during the performance of his or her official duties. In a 5-4 decision in Harry Roberts v. Louisiana, 431 U.S. 633 (1977), the Court held that the prohibition against mandatory death sentences encompassed murders of police officers.

Notable Exonerations

Curtis Kyles was convicted and sentenced to death in 1984 after his first trial ended in a hung jury. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed his conviction in the case Kyles v. Whitley, 514 U.S. 419 (1995). The Court cited prosecutorial misconduct: the state had withheld crucial information about a paid informant who may have been the actual murderer. He was retried three times, but each jury deadlocked. After Kyles’ fifth trial, prosecutors dropped the charges against him. He was released from prison in 1998.

Other Interesting Facts

Intellectual disability (formerly known as mental retardation) is determined by the jury in the penalty phase of a capital trial following conviction for first-degree murder: http://www.legis.state.la.us/lss/lss.asp?doc=191015

Sister Helen Prejean began her work against the death penalty in Louisiana when she visited Patrick Sonnier on Death Row at Angola and accompanied him to his execution. Her account is documented in the book and movie Dead Man Walking.

Louisiana Bayou. Photo by Bev Heald, via photobucket.
Louisiana Bayou. Photo by Bev Heald, via photobucket.

Resources

  • Louisiana Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
  • Capital Post Conviction Project of Louisiana – Provides indigent capital defendants with representation in state post-conviction and federal habeas corpus
  • Capital Appeals Project – Provides indigent capital defendants with representation on direct appeal
  • Louisiana Capital Assistance Center – A resource center for indigent capital defense at the trial level
  • Department of Corrections
  • Prosecutors
  • Victims’ services

Louisiana Execution Totals Since 1976

News & Developments


Public Opinion

Nov 04, 2020

Local Prosecutor Elections Foreshadow Continued Movement Away From Death Penalty

Reform pros­e­cu­tors made fur­ther inroads in the American legal sys­tem in the November 2020 gen­er­al elec­tion, unseat­ing pros­e­cu­tors in sev­er­al of the most pro­lif­ic death-sen­tenc­ing coun­ties in the United States and cap­tur­ing open seats in major Texa…

Local Prosecutor Elections Foreshadow Continued Movement Away From Death Penalty

Innocence

Aug 10, 2020

Orleans Parish D.A. Will Not Run for Re-Election, Tenure Tainted By Office Misconduct in Death-Penalty Cases

After 12 years as Orleans Parish, Louisiana District Attorney, Leon Cannizzaro (pic­tured) has announced that he will not seek re-elec­tion and will be retir­ing as D.A. at the end of this term. Cann…

Orleans Parish D.A. Will Not Run for Re-Election, Tenure Tainted By Office Misconduct in Death-Penalty Cases

Apr 30, 2020

Federal Appeals Court Denies New Orleans Prosecutors Immunity for Allegedly Threatening Witnesses with Fake Subpoenas

A fed­er­al appeals court in New Orleans has ruled that Orleans Parish, Louisiana pros­e­cu­tors who ille­gal­ly issued fake sub­poe­nas to intim­i­date reluc­tant wit­ness­es into coop­er­at­ing in mur­der and oth­er crim­i­nal cases…

Federal Appeals Court Denies New Orleans Prosecutors Immunity for Allegedly Threatening Witnesses with Fake Subpoenas

Innocence

Feb 17, 2020

Exoneree Ryan Matthews Calls for Ending Louisiana’s Death Penalty: “I Know Capital Punishment Doesn’t Work”

DNA exon­er­at­ed Ryan Matthews in 2004, after he had spent five years on death row at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola for a mur­der he did not com­mit. In December 2019, he received his col­lege degree. ​“I’m…

Exoneree Ryan Matthews Calls for Ending Louisiana’s Death Penalty: “I Know Capital Punishment Doesn’t Work”

Sentencing Data

Feb 09, 2020

News Brief — Four Penalty Phases in Conclude in One Week, With Three Life Sentences and One Death Recommendation.

NEWS (2/​10/​20): Jurors reached penal­ty-phase ver­dicts in four cas­es dur­ing the week of February 4 – 10, 2020, return­ing three life ver­dicts and one death sen­tence. On February 4, Jamaal Smith was sen­tenced t…

Costs

Jan 07, 2020

Louisiana Reaches Ten Years Without an Execution

On January 7, 2020, Louisiana marked the pas­sage of ten years since its last exe­cu­tion. As a result of the mile­stone, two-thirds of U.S. states have now either abol­ished the death penal­ty or gone at least a decade with­out a…

Louisiana Reaches Ten Years Without an Execution

Innocence

Oct 23, 2019

Louisiana Man Freed 42 Years After Wrongful Conviction in Death-Penalty Trial

A Louisiana pris­on­er wrong­ful­ly pros­e­cut­ed for cap­i­tal mur­der has agreed to a plea deal that secures his free­dom after spend­ing 42 years in prison for a crime he says he did not com­mit. With the assis­tance of the …

Louisiana Man Freed 42 Years After Wrongful Conviction in Death-Penalty Trial

Costs

May 10, 2019

Study Finds Louisiana Spends An Extra $15 Million Per Year on Death Penalty

A new study of Louisiana’s death penal­ty reports that the state’s cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment sys­tem costs tax­pay­ers at least $15.6 mil­lion a year more than a sys­tem with life with­out parole as the max­i­mum sen­tence. The study by retired Ne…

Study Finds Louisiana Spends An Extra $15 Million Per Year on Death Penalty

Recent Legislative Activity

May 01, 2019

Louisiana Christian Faith Leaders Call for State to Abolish Death Penalty

Christian church lead­ers from Catholic and Protestant denom­i­na­tions across Louisiana have called upon state law­mak­ers to pass leg­is­la­tion to end the death penal­ty in the Bayou State. On April 25, 2019, the Louisiana Interchurch Conference and two …

Louisiana Christian Faith Leaders Call for State to Abolish Death Penalty

Recent Legislative Activity

Apr 19, 2019

Veil of Execution Secrecy Expands in Several Southern Death-Penalty States

Three south­ern states have tak­en action to lim­it the public’s access to infor­ma­tion relat­ing to exe­cu­tions by increas­ing secre­cy sur­round­ing lethal-injec­tion drug sup­pli­ers. On April 12, 2019, the Texas Supreme Court reversed an e…

Veil of Execution Secrecy Expands in Several Southern Death-Penalty States
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View Information by State

Additional Information


  • Death Penalty: Yes
  • Number of Executions Since 1976: 28
  • Number of Executions Before 1976 (may include federal and military executions): 632
  • Current Death Row Population: 68
  • Women on Death Row: 1
  • Number of Innocent People Freed From Death Row: 11
  • Number of Clemencies Granted: 2
  • Date of Reinstatement (following Furman v. Georgia): July 2, 1973
  • First Execution After Reinstatement: 1983
  • Location of Death Row/Executions (Men): Louisiana State Penitentiary, Angola
  • Location of Death Row/Executions (Women): Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women, St. Gabriel
  • Capital: Baton Rouge
  • Region: South
  • Population: 4,533,372
  • Murder Rate (per 100,000 population): 12.4
  • Is Life Without Parole an Option?: Yes
  • Can a defendant get death for a felony in which s/he was not responsible for the murder?: No
  • Method of Execution: Lethal Injection
  • How is Sentence Determined?: Jury
  • Clemency Process: Governor has authority to grant clemency with nonbinding advice of Board of Pardons and Paroles
  • Governor: John Bel Edwards

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