Former Louisiana death row inmate Jimmie “Chris” Duncan was officially freed following a unanimous ruling by the Louisiana Supreme Court on June 29, 2026. The court upheld a lower court’s decision to overturn Duncan’s 1998 conviction for the death of his former girlfriend’s toddler, Haley Oliveaux, citing flawed forensic practices that undermined the state's case.
Writing for the seven-member court, Justice Cole stated that new evidence presented by Duncan’s legal team left no doubt that the conviction should be overturned. “The post-conviction evidence undermined the core factual premises on which the state depended,” Cole wrote in the official opinion. Chief Justice John Weimer and another justice issued concurring opinions.
The ruling followed a 2025 investigation by Verite News and ProPublica that examined the reliability of the key forensic evidence used in Duncan’s conviction. While awaiting an execution date, Duncan’s postconviction attorneys uncovered evidence suggesting his innocence, including expert testimony that the child’s death was an accidental drowning rather than a homicide.
Chris Fabricant, director of strategic litigation with the Innocence Project and a member of Duncan’s legal team, expressed relief, saying, “It would have been a moral outrage for the conviction to be reinstated.”
Jeff Landry, a proponent of the death penalty, had sought to expedite executions after a 15-year pause. Prosecutor Tew, who did not respond to requests for comment, indicated at an April hearing that if the Supreme Court refused to reinstate the conviction, he would consider retrying Duncan, though he did not specify the charges.
Loading comments.