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Fifth Circuit Upholds $14 Million Award Against Louisiana DA’s Office in Wrongful Conviction Suit; Affirmed by En Banc Ruling
Loaded on Sept. 15, 2009
by Matthew Clarke
published in Prison Legal News
September, 2009, page 24
by Matt Clarke
Filed under:
Prosecutor/Attorney General Misconduct,
Informants,
Attorneys,
Attorney Fee Awards,
Wrongful Conviction,
Municipal Liability,
Death Penalty.
Location:
Louisiana.
On December 19, 2008, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal jury award of $14 million in a case involving the wrongful conviction of a Louisiana man for attempted armed robbery and first-degree murder, in which the prosecutors withheld an exculpatory blood test report and …
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More from this issue:
- Anatomy of the Modern Prisoners’ Rights Suit: A Practitioner’s Guide to Successful Jury Trials on Behalf of Prisoner-Plaintiffs*, by Alphonse A. Gerhardstein
- From the Editor, by Paul Wright
- Innocent Georgia Man Receives $500,000 as Compensation for Rape Conviction
- Former Prisoner Convicted of Impersonating Criminal Defense Attorney
- Why False Imprisonment Recoveries Should Not Be Taxable, by Robert Wood
- Texas’ Parole Condition X Violates Due Process, by Gary Hunter
- $2.16 Million Settlement in Dauphin Pennsylvania Jail Strip Search Lawsuit
- Using Chemical Agents on Mentally Ill Prisoners Unconstitutional, by David Reutter
- Audit Finds California Prison Receiver Broke State Law by Making No-Bid Contracts with Verizon, by Michael Brodheim
- Fifth Circuit Upholds $14 Million Award Against Louisiana DA’s Office in Wrongful Conviction Suit; Affirmed by En Banc Ruling, by Matthew Clarke
- Third Circuit Upholds Pennsylvania DOC Policy Requiring Control Number for Legal Mail, by David Reutter
- Third Circuit Upholds Ban on UCC Materials; Sixth Circuit Disagrees, by Brandon Sample
- Working in Legal Field Not Prohibited While on Federal Supervised Release
- Prisoners Not Evacuated, Parolees Rounded Up as Hurricanes Hit, by Gary Hunter
- Contraband Smuggling by Texas Prison Guards Rarely Punished Harshly, by Matthew Clarke
- Oklahoma Prisoner Beaten to Death After Celled with Co-Defendant He Testified Against
- California Lifers’ New Litigation Tool: DA’s “Opinion” and Governor’s “Belief” Do Not Constitute “Evidence” in Parole Denial Cases, by Marvin Mentor
- Notice Required for Rejected Packages BOP Warden Denied Qualified Immunity, by Brandon Sample
- Organ Harvesting In China Prison Goes High Tech, by Gary Hunter
- Former Oklahoma Sheriff Convicted of Sex Crimes Now Where to Put Him?
- Federal Three-Judge Panel Orders California To Reduce Prison Population By 44,000 Prisoners Within Two Years, by Marvin Mentor
- New York’s Correction Law § 24 Held Unconstitutional by US Supreme Court, by Brandon Sample
- $25,000 Award to Utah Muslim Prisoner Attacked by Death Row Prisoner Following 9/11
- FBI And States Expand Collection Of DNA To The Innocent, by Brandon Sample
- Sheriff and Guards Indicted: Sex, Misconduct and Contraband Scandal at Texas Jail, by Matthew Clarke
- Washington States Passes New Law for Automatic Restoration of Voting Rights, by Eric Nygren
- Philadelphia Tax Break for Hiring Ex-Prisoners a Bust
- U.S. Supreme Court Recedes from Saucier’s Mandatory Provisions for Determining Qualified Immunity Claims, by David Reutter
- California: Parole Board’s Policy Barring Friendly Oral Witness Testimony At Lifer Hearings Ruled An “Underground Regulation”, by Marvin Mentor
- $3.75 Million Settlement for Orange County, California, Jail Detainee Severely Beaten by Prisoners
- Violence on the Rise in Arizona Prisons, by David Reutter
- Maryland Prisoners Receive Kosher Food, by Brandon Sample
- From the Bottom of the Heap: The Autobiography of Black Panther Robert Hillary King, Oakland, CA: PM Press (2009) $24.95 hardback, 217 pages, by Mel Motel
- Sixth Circuit Overturns $625,000 Verdict for Ohio Prisoner Sexually Abused by Guard, by Brandon Sample
- Oklahoma Prisoner Awarded $65,000 for Inadequate MSRA Care, by Brandon Sample
- $1 Million Settlement in Santa Clara, California Jail Suicide
- No Qualified Immunity for Guards Who Failed to Help Vomiting Prisoner Who Died
- Indigent Texas Prisoners May No Longer be Required to Repay Cost of Court-Appointed Counsel
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- News in Brief:
- $1,000 Jury Award to Beaten Missouri Prisoner
More from Matthew Clarke:
- Seventh Circuit Grants Qualified Immunity to Detectives Who Revealed Prisoner Was Informant, Denies Him Anonymity, Aug. 1, 2026
- Seventh Circuit Holds Federal Law Prohibits County Jail from Forcing Immigration Detainees to Perform Custodial Labor by Threatening Solitary Confinement, Aug. 1, 2026
- New Mexico Supreme Court Holds Corrections Department Regulations Do Not Exempt Use-Of-Force Documents from Public Records Disclosure, Aug. 1, 2026
- DOJ Issues Memorandum Over BOP Employees Abusing Their Law Enforcement Credentials to Illegally Purchase Personal Firearms, Aug. 1, 2026
- Seventh Circuit Upholds Summary Judgment Against Former Illinois Prison Guards Challenging Termination for Violating Use of Force Policy, Aug. 1, 2026
- Federal Court Issues Preliminary Injunction Barring Enforcement of Executive Order to Transfer Trans Women Prisoners to Men’s Prisons, Aug. 1, 2026
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- California Appeals Court Holds Defendant Cannot Be Penalized for Failing to Appear at Sentencing When He Was Being Held in Another County’s Jail on Preexisting Charges, July 1, 2026
- SCOTUS Reverses Mississippi Capital Conviction, July 1, 2026
More from these topics:
- Florida Kills Two Prisoners on Same Day, Both Elderly, Sept. 1, 2026. Statistics/Trends, Death Penalty, Death Row, Lethal Injection Method of Execution.
- $11 Million Paid by Boston to Exonerated Prisoner for 37-Year Wrongful Incarceration, Sept. 1, 2026. Settlements, Wrongful Conviction, Wrongful Imprisonment, Monell Liability, Withholding of Exculpatory Evidence.
- Detroit Pays $5.8 Million to Former State Prisoner Exonerated of Murder After 15 Years, Aug. 1, 2026. Wrongful Conviction, Qualified Immunity, 42 U.S. Code § 1983, civil action for deprivation of rights, Eyewitness Identification, Evidence - Failure to Disclose.
- $3 Million Settlement Reached with BOP for Attorney’s Fees in Sex Abuse Class-Action from Now-Shuttered California “Rape Club”, Aug. 1, 2026. Staff-Prisoner Assault, Attorney Fee Awards, Settlements, Consent Decrees, Class Actions.
- $13 Million Awarded to Exonerated Illinois Prisoner Tortured to Confess by Corrupt Cops, Aug. 1, 2026. Police Misconduct, Wrongful Conviction, Certificate of Innocence, False Imprisonment, Confessions - Coerced.
- Louisiana Supreme Court Announces Framework Governing Factual Innocence Claims in First Application of La. C.Cr.P. Art. 926.2, Holding Second-Step Review Encompasses All Relevant Evidence, Aug. 1, 2026. Wrongful Conviction, Forensic Sciences, Actual Innocence/Claim of Innocence, Expert and Opinion Testimony, Scientific Testimony or Evidence.
- Conviction Tossed for Former Alabama Prisoner Paroled After 42 Years, July 1, 2026. Sex Offender Registration, Wrongful Conviction, Forensic Sciences, Eyewitness Identification, Brady Rule violations.
- Alabama Barred from Executing Prisoner by Nitrogen Hypoxia, July 1, 2026. Totality of Conditions, Eighth Amendment, Death Penalty, Cruel and Unusual Punishment, Wrongful Use of Force.
- Idaho Will Recruit Law Enforcement Volunteers for Firing Squad Executions, July 1, 2026. Death Penalty, Method of Execution.
- Your DNA Was at the Scene, But You Weren’t: How Touch DNA Is Convicting the Innocent, June 1, 2026. DNA Testing/Samples, junk science, Wrongful Conviction, DNA Evidence, Evidence - Admissibility, Claim of Innocence.

