Defrosting Cold Cases

Can a man exonerated of capital murder sue the prosecutor who convicted him? That is the question John Hollway poses in an excellent article about the John Thompson case. An excerp: “In John Thompson’s case, there was no physical evidence linking him to the crime—the brutal robbery and murder of an unarmed New Orleans hotel [...]

Tags: Actual Innocence, Autopsy, Ballistics, Capital Punishment, Crime Scene, Death Row, DNA, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Faulty Evidence, Forensics, Gun Fire, Investigations Division, John Thompson, Louisiana, Miscarriage of Justice, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Victim, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions

The Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office (Lake Charles, Louisiana) arrested a man last Tuesday after he supposedly confirmed allegations involving a complaint made about sexually inappropriate actions with a juvenile that happened back in 1982. On July 19, 2010, officials received a complaint regarding 68-year-old John Weatherall of Lake Charles, LA. An investigation revealed that Weatherall allegedly [...]

Tags: Evidence, Louisiana, Police, Victim

Colorado prison inmate Roy Allan Melanson might never stand trial for the murders that his DNA says he committed in Louisiana and California decades ago. He will die in a Bent County prison for a 1974 murder that took nearly 20 years to solve, but new evidence links him to at least two other cold [...]

Tags: Anita Elizabeth Andrews, California, Colorado, DNA, Louisiana, Michelle French, Napa Police, Police, Unsolved Homicide, Victim

An Orleans Parish Criminal District Court judge today granted a new trial for Michael Anderson in the 2006 Central City massacre that left five teenagers dead, agreeing with the defense team that prosecutors violated the rules at his August trial that ended with a jury condemning Anderson to death row. “The ends of justice require that [...]

Tags: Capital Punishment, Crime Scene, Discovery, Evidence, Jailhouse Informants, Louisiana, Police, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Victim, Video Tapped Testimony, Witnesses

Vidocq read a disturbing article in the New York Times a few days ago. It described how in Jennings, Louisiana, USA, young women have disappeared and were later found murdered. According to the article, there have been eight cases. The women have in common that they were raised by extended family, lost their stability in [...]

Tags: Decomposed, Drugs, Evidence, FBI, Louisiana, North Carolina, NY Times, Prostitution, Serial Killer, Sheriff