John Thompson (left) won't tell you he was an angel as a young man. That doesn't mean he was a killer, either.
Yet as a 22-year-old father of 2 the New Orleans resident found himself convicted of murder and facing Louisiana's electric chair.
"I thought I was going to die from that point on," said Thompson of being sentenced to death in 1985.
As it turned out, Thompson wasn't executed. The now 47-year-old was within 5 weeks of execution in 1999 when a chain of events was set in motion that eventually saw Thompson become a free man in 2003.
The truth of Thompson's innocence eventually emerged but not before he spent 18 years 14 on death row in prison. As a result of his wrongful conviction a federal jury awarded Thompson $14 million plus attorney fees and interest in 2007. The Orleans Parish district attorney's office is appealing the judgment and has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the jury's verdict.
Thompson lives in New Orleans and works helping others wrongfully convicted. He says he's angry about spending most of his adult life in prison. But he is more outraged that the people who put him in prison broke the law and were not punished.
"This is where, I believe, you really get an insight into how deep the corruption in our criminal justice system is," said Thompson, who is married and has reunited with his 2 sons. "This is clearly why we should not have the death penalty."
Drug deal led to Thompson
In his own words, Thompson was a "low-level drug dealer" selling marijuana when he was arrested in January 1985 and charged with the murder of a prominent New Orleans businessman.
34-year old Ray Liuzza was gunned down during a robbery on Dec. 6, 1984, in front of his New Orleans home. The killer, a tall, stocky young black male with close cropped hair, fled after taking Liuzza's wallet and gold pinky ring.
It was the ring and the gun used in the killing that would lead police to Thompson, who admitted he'd received the items from another man as part of a drug transaction.
"That's all they wanted me to say: 'He did it and I bought the jewelry and stuff from him,' said Thompson, whose build and hair style did not match those of the killer.
But after Thompson refused to sign a statement saying he saw the man kill Liuzza, police decided to charge him with the crime instead, he said. Subsequently, Thompson also was accused of a car-jacking that occurred weeks after the murder.
Within 120 days after his arrest, Thompson, who steadfastly maintained his innocence, was convicted of both crimes and sentenced to death row.
Evidence leads to exoneration
Thompson languished at the Louisiana State Penitentiary for 14 years until his Philadelphia-based attorneys discovered that a prosecutor in the Orleans Parish district attorney's office had withheld and destroyed blood evidence that proved Thompson was not the person responsible for the car-jacking. Based on that finding, Thompson's conviction for the robbery was overturned and he was given life in prison.
Thompson's attorneys also successfully argued that the robbery conviction had prevented Thompson from testifying on his own behalf at the murder trial and as a result his constitutional rights had been violated. A judge agreed and ordered a new trial. After hearing Thompson and 2 new witnesses testify, a New Orleans jury took 35 minutes in 2003 to acquit him of Liuzza's murder.
"The death penalty," Thompson said, "is an evil tool that has been created and used in an evil way everything about it is evil."
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John Thompson founded Resurrection After Exoneration to help other men and women exonerated of their crimes transition back into society and offer them the voice to address the critical issues within the justice system that allowed for their wrong convictions. The New Orleans-based organization offers transitional housing and resources, such as group counseling, and education and training opportunities.
Read more about Resurrection After Exoneration at www.r-a-e.org/about/letter-founder.
Source: Shreveport Times, January 25, 2010
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