LOUISIANA MAN FREED AFTER 27 YEARS ON DEATH ROW

Jimmie "Chris" Duncan walked free on Wednesday after a Louisiana court overturned his 1998 first-degree murder conviction for the rape and death of 23-month-old Haley Oliveaux. Fourth Judicial District Judge Alvin Sharp vacated the conviction in April, concluding that forensic bite-mark evidence used to secure Duncan's conviction was "not scientifically defensible" and that the toddler's death appeared consistent with accidental drowning. The Louisiana Supreme Court subsequently ruled that "no rational juror" would convict Duncan based on the scientific evidence presented at trial. Duncan was released on a $150,000 bond after spending nearly three decades in custody.

The prosecution's case had relied heavily on testimony from forensic dentist Michael West and pathologist Steven Hayne. Court filings from Duncan's legal team allege that a videotaped examination showed West pressing a mold of Duncan's teeth into the child's body before declaring the marks matched his bite, and that a state expert who later testified at trial was unaware of how the marks had been created. Bite-mark analysis, once a common forensic technique, has since been widely discredited by the scientific community. An Associated Press review identified at least two dozen wrongful convictions or criminal charges since 2000 that relied on bite-mark evidence.

Duncan's attorneys stated the ruling represented a major step toward clearing his name, citing the court's finding of "clear and convincing evidence" of his factual innocence and his lack of prior criminal history. The case exemplifies the nation's highest-profile examples of convictions built on discredited forensic methods. Hayne, one of the two expert witnesses central to the original prosecution, has since died.