Connick Sr News Today

Werent in charge of their case when a mans life was on the line. >> visibly upset, overturned the carjacking conviction and ordered a stay of execution and connick to turn over every file on record to michael and gordon. >> that was the first time we really got a full look into the district attorneys files in the murder case against john thompson. and it was a moment that gordon and i looked at each other and said, hes really innocent. he did not kill ray liuzza. he was not there. we knew who th...

Skip to the end. >> the last line read, conviction and sentence reversed. >> i called gordon into my office. i couldnt get the words out. >> i remember it was july 17th, 4:30 in the afternoon, i -- i was tongue tied i said, i couldnt -- he said, new trial? i said yes. we hugged, we were ecstatic. >> as michael and gordon began preparing for the retrial, they got an unsolicited offer from the d.a.s office, harry connick senior had retired and the new d.a. ran for office on an anti-corruption camp...

Handled thousands of cases with hard lined tactics. >> harry connick in death penalty cases, i dont think would have offered a deal bauds he was aggressive and wanted to lock them all forever. >> connicks lead prosecutor was jim williams. jim took great pride in his numerous death penalty convictions. he even kept a miniature electric chair on his desk. >> jim was regarded ads one of the most aggressive in the prosecutors office. sliding up behind defendants in the courtroom and buzzing in their...

$14 million award. >> five justices of the supreme court believed the new orleans district attorneys office could not be liable because there was not a prior pattern of similar misconduct. >> the majority opinion written by justice clarence thomas found that even though connicks office withheld evidence in the thompson case, that was not enough to prove a pattern. and yet a study done in 2008 reported that during harry connick sr.s tenure in one out of every four cases where the death penalty wa...

Around and met him and they had a fight. jay is pressed with his back against the drivers side door and manages to kick the carjacker out of his face and the carjacker obviously injured. drops the gun and gets away. that crime remained unsolved until pictures of thompson appeared in the paper of ray liuzza. >> when thompsons picture appeared, all three children identified john thompson as their attacker. thompson went on trial for the carjacking first because prosecutors knew a conviction would ...

Prosecutorial misconduct, they had to go new orleans parish, harry connick sr. >> harry connick sr. was certainly an iconic figure. he was a fan of jazz with a regular singing gig in new orleans but also fairly aggressive as well. it was a state of policy in his office to provide the desk the minimum and nothing more. >> we talked about the right way to handle this and rather than hold a big press conference and point the finger at the district attorneys office, we thought the right first step w...