Jefferson Parish pros­e­cu­tors today dis­missed all charges against for­mer Louisiana death row inmate Ryan Matthews. He became the nation’s 115th death row inmate to be freed accord­ing to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC). Matthews was sen­tenced to die in 1999 and spent near­ly five years on death row before DNA evi­dence helped clear him of a mur­der that occurred just two weeks after his 17th birth­day. (The U.S. Supreme Court will con­sid­er whether death sen­tences for 16- or 17-year-olds are con­sti­tu­tion­al in October.)

​“The grow­ing num­ber of inno­cence cas­es pro­vides over­whelm­ing evi­dence that the death penal­ty is far too risky,” said Richard Dieter, Executive Director of DPIC. ​“Thank good­ness for DNA test­ing – oth­er­wise Ryan could be dead. One has to won­der about the many cas­es with­out such evi­dence.”

In June 2004, Matthews was released to his fam­i­ly on bond after pros­e­cu­tors received results from sev­en DNA pro­files com­plet­ed on the mask, shirt, and glove worn by the gun­man in the crime for which Matthews was wrong­ly con­vict­ed. Prosecutors released Matthews and began to reex­am­ine the case after each of the genet­ic pro­files found no trace of Matthews’ DNA on evi­dence recov­ered from the mur­der scene. The DNA tests did link the evi­dence to anoth­er man who is in prison in Louisiana for an unre­lat­ed killing that occurred just a few blocks from the mur­der in Matthews’ case.

Matthews is the third death row inmate to be freed in 2004, and the sev­enth to be exon­er­at­ed in Louisiana since 1981. The oth­er 2004 exonerees were Alan Gell of North Carolina (February) and Gordan ​“Randy” Steidl of Illinois (May). In 2003, 10 per­sons were freed from death row in the United States, equal­ing the most exon­er­a­tions in a sin­gle year since the death penal­ty was rein­stat­ed.

For more infor­ma­tion about this case, con­tact Matthews’ attor­neys, William Sothern at (504) 251‑8346 or (504) 529‑5955 and Clive A. Stafford Smith at (504) 338‑9867. Those seek­ing addi­tion­al infor­ma­tion on the DNA tests in this case may con­tact Barry Scheck or Nina Morrison at The Innocence Project in New York City at (212) 364‑5357. Please also con­tact DPIC for fur­ther infor­ma­tion.

(DPIC Press Release, August 9, 2004) See Innocence.