Entries tagged with “Dr. Michael West”

Jul 06, 2026

Louisiana Supreme Court Affirms Lower Court’s Vacatur and Factual Innocence Finding for Former Death-Sentenced Man, Jimmie Duncan

On June 29, 2026, the Louisiana Supreme Court affirmed a low­er court’s deci­sion find­ing Jimmie Duncan fac­tu­al­ly inno­cent and vacat­ing his first-degree mur­der con­vic­tion and death sen­tence. Mr. Duncan was sen­tenced to death for the 1993 death of his girlfriend’s tod­dler, Haley Oliveaux, large­ly based on faulty bite mark evi­dence. In April 2025, Louisiana District Court Judge Alvin Sharp held that expert tes­ti­mo­ny pre­sent­ed dur­ing an evi­den­tiary hearing demonstrated…

Apr 28, 2025

Louisiana Judge Sets Aside Jimmie Duncan’s Conviction and Death Sentence Based on ​“No Longer Valid” Bite Mark Evidence

On April 24, 2025, Louisiana District Court Judge Alvin Sharp set aside Jimmie Duncan’s first-degree mur­der con­vic­tion and death sen­tence. Mr. Duncan was sen­tenced to death for the 1993 death of his girlfriend’s tod­dler large­ly based on faulty bite mark evi­dence. Judge Sharp, in a deci­sion that came after a September 2024 evi­den­tiary hear­ing, held that expert tes­ti­mo­ny pre­sent­ed dur­ing this hear­ing demon­strat­ed the bite mark analy­sis used against Mr. Duncan is​“no…

Issues

Sep 30, 2021

Sherwood Brown Exonerated in Mississippi, 186th Death-Row Exoneration Since 1973

Sherwood Brown has been exon­er­at­ed of the charges that sent him to death row in Mississippi in 1995 for a triple mur­der he did not com­mit. On August 24, 2021, DeSoto County Circuit Court Judge Jimmy McClure grant­ed a pros­e­cu­tion motion to dis­miss charges against Brown (pic­tured after his release), who was released lat­er that day after hav­ing spent 26 years on the state’s death row or fac­ing the prospects of a capital…