User:Ratfox/John Thompson (exonerated death row inmate)

John Thompson is an American citizen who spent 18 years in prison, 14 years of which on death row, before being freed due to evidence that had been improperly withheld by prosecutors.

John Thompson was arrested in January 1985 for homicide. Thompson was subsequently accused and convicted of a robbery. Prosecutors were able to use the robbery conviction to secure the death penalty in the murder case. John Thompson spent years on death row, gradually exhausting all means of appeal.

In 1999, weeks before his scheduled execution, an investigator hired by his lawyers discovered in Police files a crime lab report indicating that Thompson's blood type did not match that of perpetrator of the robbery. This evidence had been improperly withheld by prosecutors. Due to this discovery, the conviction for robbery was thrown out, and due to the role that conviction had played in the subsequent conviction for murder, Thompson's death sentence was commuted to life without parole. In 2002, a state appeals court then set aside the conviction for murder, leading to a new trial for the murder in which Thompson was acquitted.

Soon after his liberation, John Thompson sued the District Attorney's office, then led by Harry Connick, Sr., for failing to provide adequate training to his prosecutors. His was awarded an unprecedented $14 millions by a jury. The case was subsequently overturned by the Supreme Court.