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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


New Voices

Mar 29, 2023

NEW VOICES: Louisiana Governor Announces His Opposition to the Death Penalty

After years of silence regard­ing his views on the death penal­ty, Governor John Bel Edwards of Louisiana expressed his oppo­si­tion to cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in a sem­i­nar at Loyola University in New Orleans. On March 22, 2023, Edwards said, ​“The death pe…

NEW VOICES: Louisiana Governor Announces His Opposition to the Death Penalty

Costs

Mar 27, 2023

COSTS: Louisiana Spent $7.7 Million on Death Penalty Defense in One Year. It Hasn’t Executed Anyone in 13 Years

According to the Louisiana Public Defender’s Office, the state spent $7.7 mil­lion on the legal rep­re­sen­ta­tion of defen­dants in death penal­ty cas­es just in 2022. That total does not include the costs of pros­e­cu­tors, judges, and oth­er crim­i­nal justi…

COSTS: Louisiana Spent $7.7 Million on Death Penalty Defense in One Year. It Hasn’t Executed Anyone in 13 Years

Arbitrariness

Jun 10, 2022

STUDIES: Louisiana Study Finds Race and Gender Bias in Application of Death Penalty

Louisiana’s death penal­ty is dis­pro­por­tion­ate­ly imposed in cas­es involv­ing white female vic­tims, espe­cial­ly if the defen­dant in the case is a Black man, a new study by three lead­ing death-penal­ty researchers has con­firmed. Louisiana pros­e­cu­tors we…

STUDIES: Louisiana Study Finds Race and Gender Bias in Application of Death Penalty

Innocence

May 16, 2022

Federal Appeals Court Rules that Louisiana Prosecutor and Police Officer Who Fabricated Evidence are Not Immune from Civil Rights Lawsuit by Former Death-Row Prisoner

A pros­e­cu­tor and police offi­cer who fab­ri­cat­ed evi­dence to wrong­ful­ly con­vict a for­mer Louisiana death-row pris­on­er are not enti­tled to immu­ni­ty in a law­suit alleg­ing they ​“know­ing­ly and delib­er­ate­ly fab­ri­cat­ed” that tes­ti­mo­ny, th…

Federal Appeals Court Rules that Louisiana Prosecutor and Police Officer Who Fabricated Evidence are Not Immune from Civil Rights Lawsuit by Former Death-Row Prisoner

Public Opinion

May 09, 2022

Poll: Support for Death Penalty in Louisiana Falls By 7 Percentage Points in 4 Years

Support for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in Louisiana has fall­en by sev­en per­cent­age points in the last four years, accord­ing to the 2022 Louisiana Survey by the Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs at Louisiana State University. ​“Four …

Poll:  Support for Death Penalty in Louisiana Falls By 7 Percentage Points in 4 Years

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

Prosecutorial Accountability

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…

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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): 65
  • Current Death Row Population: 62
  • 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: 4,657,757*
  • Murder Rate (per 100,000 population): 11.7
  • 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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