Elvis Brooks was wrongfully convicted in a fatal bar shooting and imprisoned for over four decades before his conviction was overturned. Nearly 45 years after his arrest, a prosecutor admitted to withholding key fingerprint evidence that did not match Brooks, and police suspected other men of the crime.

Brooks is eligible for up to $480,000 in compensation under Louisiana law. However, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, who has served two years in the role, has opposed nearly all compensation claims by wrongfully convicted individuals, including Brooks’s. Murrill asserts that 22 of 23 applicants have failed to sufficiently prove their innocence.

Murrill’s hard-line approach stands out compared to other states, according to Jeffrey Gutman, a national expert on compensation funds and professor emeritus at George Washington University Law School. Herbert Larson, an attorney representing exonerees and senior professor at Tulane University Law School, said this approach causes delays that can drag on for years, inflicting financial and emotional hardship on people who have already endured decades of wrongful imprisonment.

During his eight years as attorney general, Republican Jeff Landry, who hired Murrill as solicitor general, opposed 10 of 12 compensation claims. Prosecutor records discovered by Brooks’s attorneys 40 years after the crime revealed that jurors were not informed about the fingerprint evidence or the suspicion that other men committed the robbery.

Civil rights attorneys have described Brooks’s case as an egregious example of wrongful conviction. Despite this, the state maintains that Brooks and other exonerees are guilty and therefore do not qualify for compensation.

Sources

ProPublica: He’s Eligible for Up to $480,000 After Being Wrongly Imprisoned for 42 Years. The State Says No.