325:, chose to first bring to trial the armed robbery charge against Thompson in hopes that a conviction would help with the murder case. Based solely on the identification by the three victims, Thompson was found guilty of attempted armed robbery and sentenced to 50 years in prison. Then during the murder trial, Thompson was effectively precluded from testifying in his own defense because the prosecution would have impeached his testimony by referring to his armed robbery conviction. His codefendant was able to testify that he saw Thompson commit the murder without rebuttal testimony from Thompson. Thompson was convicted of the murder and sentenced to death. However, Connick suppressed a critical blood sample test. Elisa Abolafia, a private investigator, discovered that the blood splatter on the victim from the robbery did not match the blood type of Thompson. This meant that Thompson was wrongfully convicted of the robbery; a conviction that prohibited him from defending himself vigorously in the murder case. Connick also suppressed evidence in the murder trial, failing to disclose to Thompson's legal team the existence of an eyewitness description that matched one of the prosecution's witnesses, Kevin Freeman, and audio of witness Richard Perkins which implied Perkins had come forward for a cash reward and had used Freeman as his source. Thompson's murder case was vacated in 2002 and he was retried with his defense providing evidence that Freeman had committed the murder.
31:
345:, overturned the $ 14 million award by the lower court, with the decision split along ideological lines. The majority found for the appellant, Harry Connick Sr., holding that the prosecutor's office is not liable under §1983, saying that "the only issue before is whether Connick, as the policy maker for the district attorney's office, was deliberately indifferent to the need to train the attorneys under his authority" to which Justice Thomas said the answer to that question was no, given an absence of proof concerning a pattern of misconduct.
477:
395:
have produced what can only be described as a master class in human apathy. Their disregard for the facts of
Thompson's thrashed life and near-death emerges as a moral flat line...only by willfully ignoring that entire trial record can and Thomas reduce the entire constitutional question to a single
413:
wrote that "...what's striking about this case, aside from the majority's apparent indifference to practical realities and the actual sufferings of an innocent man wrongfully sentenced to die, is its indifference to the facts of the case outlined by
Justice Ginsburg's dissent." Bennett Gershman and
313:
In 1984, John
Thompson, a 22-year-old African American father of two, was charged along with another man for killing a prominent New Orleans businessman. After his picture was published in the newspaper because of the arrest, victims of an unsolved attempted armed robbery identified Thompson as the
414:
Joel Cohen called the majority's reasoning "bizarre," and wrote that " dissent was so contemptuous of the majority's decision that it provoked a gratuitous concurring opinion from
Justice Scalia in a likely effort to seek to legitimize the majority opinion from her savage rebuke." Writing for the
400:
noted that "...here's something pretty unsavory about a judicial philosophy that cites a ruling that we now know sent an innocent man back to prison as an authority to deny compensation to another innocent man who was nearly executed because the government hid the evidence that would have and
328:
After nearly two decades of wrongfully being imprisoned, Thompson was found not guilty in the retrial. Thompson eventually sued
Connick and several of his assistant district attorneys for suppression of evidence and won a verdict of $ 14 million.
409:" for the court. Healy continued, "he conservative majority preferred to affirm an obvious wrong rather than face the appalling vista of a brutal and corrupt justice system." Andrew Cohen called the majority's argument a "warped rationale."
483:
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wrote that "a bitterly divided U.S. Supreme Court all but closed the door" to prosecutors being held liable for damages when prosecutors violate the law to deprive a person of a fair trial.
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352:, observed that Thompson was the victim of much more pervasive misconduct by the District Attorney's office than a single
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Bandes, Susan A. (2012). "The Lone
Miscreant, the Self-Training Prosecutor, and Other Fictions: A Comment on
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for failing to properly train its employees when the plaintiff can only prove a single violation of
837:
406:
764:
Laurin, Jennifer E. (2011). "Prosecutorial
Exceptionalism, Remedial Skepticism, and the Legacy of
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case in which the Court considered whether a prosecutor's office can be held liable for a single
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777:
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499:"Cruz the Politician Champions the Death Penalty. Cruz the Private Lawyer Did Something Else"
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Moore, Janet (2012). "Opening the Black Box: Democracy and
Criminal Discovery Reform after
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called the ruling "chilling" and the majority's arguments "formalistic and circular."
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by one of its members on the theory that the office provided inadequate training.
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516:"Supreme Court rules against exonerated death row inmate who sued prosecutors"
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called the tone of the majority opinion "spiteful", and the decision a "
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535:"Justices Dismiss $ 14 Million Jury Award To Freed Death Row Inmate"
617:
122:
651:"Prosecutors Get a Mulligan, Wrongfully Convicted Man Gets Squat"
127:
30:
173:
A district attorney's office cannot be held responsible under
115:
770:
University of Texas Law, Public Law
Research Paper No. 202
484:
public domain material from this U.S government document
594:"A wrong decision by the Supreme Court on civil rights"
912:
United States
Supreme Court cases of the Roberts Court
442:
List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 563
317:Handling both cases, the district attorney of the
726:: The Costs of Valuing Immunity over Innocence".
267:Thomas, joined by Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy, Alito
110:Jury verdict affirmed in part, reversed in part,
883:
606:"Man Wrongly Convicted: Are Prosecutors Liable?"
668:"When the Supreme Court Fears Too Much Justice"
373:'s dissent is the more persuasive...", and the
518:By Robert Barnes, Tuesday, March 29, 10:51 PM
54:Connick, District Attorney, et al. v. Thompson
686:"Cops Are Stupid, But Prosecutors Are Smart"
558:
283:Ginsburg, joined by Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagan
532:
379:wrote that "he court got this one wrong."
653:By Andrew Cohen March 30, 2011, 8:07 PM
902:Second Enforcement Act of 1871 case law
874:Supreme Court (slip opinion) (archived)
824:, 563 U.S. 51 (2011) is available from:
341:, in a 5–4 decision written by Justice
332:
884:
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18:2011 United States Supreme Court case
684:Bennett L. Gershman and Joel Cohen,
608:NPR - Nina Totenberg - April 2, 2011
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13:
715:
36:Supreme Court of the United States
14:
923:
907:United States Supreme Court cases
814:
582:"Failure of Empathy and Justice"
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396:misdeed by a single bad actor."
348:The dissent, written by Justice
29:
691:
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661:
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401:eventually did exonerate him."
892:2011 in United States case law
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533:Adam Liptak (March 29, 2011).
526:
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497:Corn, David (March 12, 2015).
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416:American Constitution Society
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688:Posted: 04/ 1/11 11:30 AM ET
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7:
670:March 31, 2011, 9:11 AM ET
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339:United States Supreme Court
296:United States Supreme Court
294:, 563 U.S. 51 (2011), is a
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865:Oyez (oral argument audio)
482:This article incorporates
728:National Law Guild Review
629:"Scalia and the Innocent"
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183:. Fifth Circuit reversed.
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897:Brady material case law
722:Autry, Hannah (2012). "
618:"Cruel but Not Unusual"
337:On March 29, 2011, the
275:Scalia, joined by Alito
699:"Hiding the Forensics"
640:"Connick v. Thompson "
45:Decided March 29, 2011
43:Argued October 6, 2010
561:"Connick V. Thompson"
88:131 S. Ct. 1350; 179
791:Garcetti v. Ceballos
697:Brandon L. Garrett,
333:Opinion of the court
125:2008); on rehearing
822:Connick v. Thompson
795:Brooklyn Law Review
787:Connick v. Thompson
766:Connick v. Thompson
741:Connick v. Thompson
724:Connick v. Thompson
521:The Washington Post
461:Connick v. Thompson
407:Lord Denning Moment
350:Ruth Bader Ginsburg
291:Connick v. Thompson
227:Ruth Bader Ginsburg
157:Thompson v. Connick
112:Thompson v. Connick
24:Connick v. Thompson
745:Fordham Law Review
704:2011-04-06 at the
559:Justice Ginsburg.
539:The New York Times
366:The New York Times
203:Associate Justices
563:. Law.cornell.edu
432:Harry Connick Sr.
376:Los Angeles Times
323:Harry Connick Sr.
319:Parish of Orleans
314:person involved.
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180:Brady v. Maryland
135:(5th Cir. 2009);
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163:(5th Cir. 2011).
147:1004 (2010).
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102:Case history
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356:violation.
272:Concurrence
251:Elena Kagan
159:, 641 F.3d
139:. granted,
131:, 578 F.3d
886:Categories
448:References
309:Background
155:Remanded,
152:Subsequent
94:U.S. LEXIS
92:417; 2011
60:Docket no.
544:March 29,
360:Criticism
303:violation
90:L. Ed. 2d
70:Citations
820:Text of
734:(1): 29.
702:Archived
673:Atlantic
656:Atlantic
426:See also
264:Majority
123:5th Cir.
829:Cornell
807:1942939
778:1934250
757:1842963
596:no date
280:Dissent
168:Holding
128:en banc
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871:
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856:Justia
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832:
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567:May 9,
480:
463:,
393:Scalia
389:Thomas
249:
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114:, 553
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354:Brady
301:Brady
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107:Prior
803:SSRN
789:and
774:SSRN
753:SSRN
569:2022
546:2011
469:U.S.
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