john thompson had been on death row at angola for 14 years. by 9319 they had proven he had not committed the carjacking. but they had yet to prove their client was new jersey of killing 34-year-old ray liuzza in cold blood. however, material michael and gordon received from the new orleans d.a. s office provided ample grounds for appeal. the daily police reports showed us that these witnesses, freeman and perkins, had told very, very different stories in 1985 before the trial as compared to what they said on the witness stand. and we began to see how their stories were contrived to secure a conviction of an innocent man. there were numerous pieces of evidence inconsistent with john s guilt, were consistent with freeman s guilt. and that showed that freeman had lied at trial in his testimony
emhe would hold appearing of open court. he wanted all the citizens of new orleans to see. at the hearing they questioned the key prosecutors involved in the case including jim williams, the man with the little electric chair on his desk. a colleague testified that williams was given the blood results but williams denied it. williams story is that he never received it. that he never saw it. so at the end of the day, the choices between dishonesty and incompetence. they can either be the prosecutors who knew that evidence was being with health in their case or they can be the prosecutors who weren t in charge of their cases when a man s line was on the line. visibly upset, judge quinlan overturned thompson s carjacking conviction. he also ordered a stay of execution and ordered connick to turn over every file on record to michael and gordon. that was the first time we really got a full look into the district attorney s files in the
on behalf of the state. after testifying that he saw thompson murder ray liuzza, kevin freeman was given a plea deal and only served ten months in prison. we also received leads from the police reports about potential witnesses who would be helpful. there was a woman who lived across the street from mr. liuzza and she got a very good look at the perpetrator. witnesses who testified they saw a man with a bla steel revolver, six feet tall with close cut hair running past them. john thompson was 5 weight a big bushy afro. he went by the name kojak because of his close cut hair. once all the evidence was examined, it was clear beyond imagine able that kevin freeman acted alone killing ray liuzza. michael and gordon now believed they had a strong case for a new trial. we had an evidentiary hearing
testimony and we wouldn t be able to use that evidence effectively if we couldn t cross examine him live on the stand. michael and gordon proposed an unorthodox solution. after freeman s testimony was read into the record, they would cross examine the empty witness chair as if freeman was on the stand. we took the evidence of the lies and put them into the form of questions. you told the jury you didn t know that john thompson was going to rob someone. isn t it true, however, that you sat out to rob someone. silence hung in the air after each question was posed giving the jury time to imagine freeman s response. you suggested in your testimony that you stole nothing from mr. liuzza at all. but you admitted you stole all of mr. liuzza s property, didn t you? we asked a series of questions culminating in the final one, isn t it true, mr. freeman, that you and you alone
in front of judge quinlan and quinlan vacated the death sentence but he refused to vacate guilt. judge quinlan refused to grant a new trial. we were devastated. yes, it was wonderful to have john thompson spared from execution but we were still looking at a man in his 30s who is going to be facing the rest of his life in jail. so you re going to take the death penalty back and give me a life sentence. i was scared to death even more so now. you re telling me, i will never go home again. that didn t give me no relief. none whatsoever. i was doomed. michael and gordon appealed the judge s decision. they knew this would be thompson s last chance for a new trial. john was going to go free or spend the rest of his life in prison. our arguments were twofold.