Charged Freeman News Today

>> the police charged freeman and thompson with murder. the local prosecutor wanted the death penalty for thompson but knew it would be an uphill battle because thompson had never been convicted of a violent crime. that was about to change. >> on december 28, 1984, 19 year old jay la guard, his sister mimi who was 16 and their younger brother who was 12, went to the superdome. after the game, as they were getting in the car, an african-american man jumped into the back seat, pulled out a .357 ma...

>> michael and gordon proposed an unorthodox solution. after freemans testimony was read into the record they would cross examine the empty witness chair as if freeman was on the stand. >> we took the evidence of the lies and put them in the form of questions. >> you told the jury you didnt know that john thompson was going to rob someone. isnt it true, however, that you set out to rob someone? silence hung in the air after each question was posed, giving the jury time to imagine freemans respon...

John thomson had been on death row at angola state prison for 14 years. by 1999 michael and gordon had proven thompson had not committed the carjacking outside the superdome, they had yet to prove their client was innocent of killing 34-year-old ray liuzza in cold blood. however, material michael and gordon finally received from the new orleans d.a.s office provided ample grounds for appeal. >> the daily police reports showed us that these witnesses, freeman and perkins, had told very, very diff...

Head in his hands. we thought he was getting out of jail the next day. and now we found out that he had to stand trial with a risk of spending the rest of his life in prison. >> on the morning of may 7th, 2003, john thompson stood before the same judge in the same courtroom where he had been sentenced to death 18 years earlier. michael and gordon had a problem. they couldnt attack the damaging testimony of kevin freeman, the man they believed murdered ray liuzza. >> freeman was shot dead in 1995...

>> john thompson was a low-level drug dearly and fence. he grew up in the projects in new orleans. was raised mostly by his grandmother. his father was a career criminal. >> richard perkins confronted mr. thompson after the fact and got mr. thompson to confess that he was the one that killed mr. liuzza. >> perkins said thompson also had an accomplice named kevin freeman. police arrested both freeman and thompson. >> the story that kevin freeman told police was that he and john thompson had been ...

Testimony and we wouldnt be able to use that evidence effectively if we couldnt cross examine him live on the stand. >> michael and gordon proposed an unorthodoxed solution. after freemans testimony was read into the record they would cross-examine the empty witness stand as if he were on the stand. >> we took the evidence of the lies and put them in the form of questions. >> you told the jury you didnt know that john thompson was going to rob someone. isnt it true, however, that you set out to ...

Very, very different stories in 1985 before the trial as compared to what they said on the witness stand. we began to see how their stories were contrived to secure a conviction of an innocent man. >> there were numerous pieces of evidence inconsistent with johns guilt or consistent with freemans guilt and that showed that freeman had lied at trial in his testimony on behalf of the state. >> after testifying he saw thompson murder ray liuzza, kevin freeman was given a plea deal and only served t...

Head in his hands. we thought he was getting out of jail the next day. and now we found out that he had to stand trial with a risk of spending the rest of his life in prison. >> on the morning of may 7th, 2003, john thompson stood before the same judge in the same courtroom where he had been sentenced to death 18 years earlier. michael and gordon had a problem. they couldnt attack the damaging testimony of kevin freeman, the man they believed murdered ray liuzza. >> freeman was shot dead in 1995...

Johns guilt or consistent with freemans guilt and that showed that freeman had lied at trial in his testimony on behalf of the state. >> after testifying he saw thompson murder ray liuzza, kevin freeman was given a plea deal and only served ten months in prison. >> we also received leads about potential witnesses who would be helpful. there was a woman who lived across the street from mr. liuzza, she got a very good look at the perpetrator. ms. kelly and other witnesses who testified they saw a ...

An unorthodox solution. after freemans testimony was read into the record they would cross examine the empty witness chair as if freeman was on the stand. >> we took the evidence of the lies and put them in the form of questions. >> you told the jury you didnt know that john thompson was going to rob someone. isnt it true, however, that you set out to rob someone? silence hung in the air after each question was posed, giving the jury time to imagine freemans response. you suggested in your testi...