Arrested in New Orleans
in 1996 for the murder of his half cousin, 14 year old Crystal Champagne, Damon
Thibodeaux had resided in Louisiana's Angola Prison on Death Row for 15 years
for a crime he was later found to be innocent of. Thanks to the DNA evidence uncovered by The
Innocence Project, he became one of over 300 people who have been exonerated
for crimes that they had been incarcerated for that they did not commit.
While there is no mention as to the specific
DNA tests that were performed, it is mentioned that there was a discrepancy
between the evidence that had been collected and the evidence that was used in
the trial. After these discrepancies
were discovered by Thibodeaux's lawyer, a group by the name of The Innocence
Project was enlisted to help re-evaluate his conviction. The
Innocence Project’s first case was in 1989, when Gary Dotson became the first
person to be exonerated in the United States through the use of DNA
evidence. In the years since Dotson's
exoneration, new DNA evidence developed by the Innocence Project has exonerated
over 280 individuals of crimes they did not commit. Seventeen of the exonerated
persons had been convicted of first-degree murder and were subsequently sentenced
to death. Others were exonerated of
violent crimes such as rape and assault as in the case of Damon Thibodeaux, who
was both convicted of rape and sentenced to death (Thompson, 2012).
The Innocence Project has also been
described as “a national litigation and public policy organization dedicated to
exonerating wrongfully convicted individuals through DNA testing and reforming
the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice (Innocence Project.
2012)."
The investigation of Damon Thibodeaux’s
case by the police and subsequent prosecution was mainly based on a coerced
confession and faulty evidentiary procedures as evidenced by a grueling 9 hour
interrogation after which Thibodeaux signed a confession. In that confession,
he stated that he drove to what was to become the crime scene and originally he
had engaged in consensual sex with Crystal Champagne, however when she had
asked him to stop, he didn’t and subsequently proceeded to rape her. However, the evidence showed that no sex had
taken place.
Another issue mentioned in the confession,
stated that Damon Thibodeaux confessed to strangling Crystal Champagne with a
white or gray speaker wire that he had obtained from his car, whereas the
evidence showed that it had been a red electrical conductor wire (Pikington,
2012). The reason for this discrepancy
was that Damon Thibodeaux was fed non-public details about the crime, but here
he guessed incorrectly as he couldn’t have known about the red electrical cord,
which had been burned off a section of cord that was found hanging from the
tree above her body (Innocence Project. 2012).
The last major discrepancy that should
have raised red flags for investigators and prosecutors alike was the eyewitnesses
who identified Thibodeaux as the man they had seen pacing near the crime scene. It was later determined that he had already
seen Damon Thibodeaux’s photo in the news before taking part in the
identification procedure. Moreover, it was later revealed that the alleged sighting
had occurred the day after the body was discovered and at a point in time when Damon
Thibodeaux had already been taken into custody.
From the beginning, the investigators
focused on Damon Thibodeaux. Because he had
been the last person to be seen with Crystal Champagne, they had a predisposed
assumption of guilt, rather than a presumption of innocence. This is readily seen in the 8 1/2 to 9 hours
of interrogation that Damon Thibodeaux was subjected to. It was because of the intense questioning,
and the lack of providing food and water, that the investigators used which
caused Damon to break down and confess to a crime that he did not commit.
One of the assumptions that led to his
conviction was the lack of semen present at the scene. The detectives assumed that the lack of
sample was due to deterioration which was mistakenly thought to have been
consumed by the maggots which were present on and around the body. At the time, the investigators failed to
test the maggots for semen, which would have proven that there had been no
sexual activity involved in the murder.
There was also no testing done on Crystal
Champagne's clothing prior to the time of the trial. If there had been, it would have been another
piece of evidence which led away from Damon Thibodeaux, as his DNA was found
not to be present on Crystal Champagne’s clothing.
Yet another piece of evidence that would
have proven Thibodeaux innocent was the DNA which was discovered on the red
wire used to strangle Crystal. It had
previously only been tested for blood, not DNA.
This DNA turned out to not be Damon's but that of an unknown male.
This case is a prime example of the
mistakes that can be made by investigators involving DNA evidence. It was because of the involvement of The
Innocence Project that further testing of the evidence was done and Damon Thibodeaux
was released after 15 years.
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References
Innocence Project. Know
The Cases: Damon Thibodeaux. 2012. http://www.innocenceproject.org/
Pilkington, Ed .
Louisiana death row inmate freed after 15 years – with a little help from
DNA. The Guardian. 2012. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/07/dna-testing-frees-man-death-row.
Thompson, A. M.,
Molina, O. R., & Levett, L. M. (2012). AFTER EXONERATION: AN INVESTIGATION
OF STIGMA AND WRONGFULLY CONVICTED PERSONS. Albany Law Review, 75(3), 1373-1413 