This article was created for Propublica’s local reporting network in collaboration with Verite News. Sign up for Dispatch to get stories like this as soon as it’s published.
A Louisiana judge put aside the conviction and death sentence of Jimmy Chris Duncan this week. The 1998 conviction of killing his girlfriend’s 23-month-old daughter was based in part on evidence of the biting mark, which experts say is now junk science.
The decision took place in a Verite News and Propublica investigation in March, after a stubborn death penalty advocate Jeff Landry to promote executions after a 15-year suspension.
Judge Alvin Sharp of Ouachita Parish’s 4th Judicial District pointed to new testimony during the September appeal during the hearing of the appeal that such bite mark analysis once presented by the standard forensic team “is no longer valid” and “cannot be scientifically defended.”
The original analysis came from forensic dentist Michael West and pathologist Dr. Stephen Hayne. Dr. Stephen Hayne’s long-standing partnership as a national expert fell under legal scrutiny after questions were revealed about the validity of the technology.
Over the past 27 years, nine prisoners have been released after being partially convicted of inaccurate evidence given by West and Hayne. Three of those men were in the death line.
Duncan was the last person waiting for execution based on the pair’s work. Sharp said in his ruling that he was “suspected at best.”
Other expert witnesses said Hayne’s autopsy and his findings were “actually sloppy” and “overall inadequate.”
“It is noteworthy that Dr. Hayne’s qualification was lacking in a certain way to the extent that he was called to serious questions,” wrote the pathologist’s “specialist designation” in his ruling.
Sharp also said he found the September testimony of a professional medical witness, who said the child’s death was the result of an accidental drowsing rather than a murder, but rather an accidental drowsing.
It remains unclear when Duncan will walk freely, or if it will.
Robert S. Tu, district attorney for the 4th Judicial District, may choose to appeal the decision, retry Duncan with a murder charge or less crime, or accept and be free to accept the court’s decision. Tew did not respond to requests for comment. Duncan’s legal team declined to comment.
Louisiana has a long record of convictions and sentences of those who were later found to be innocent. Over the past 30 years, the state has exonerated 11 people facing executions, among the highest numbers in the country, according to the national governing register.
Duncan, 56, has remained innocent for over 30 years, but prosecutors have continued to insist that Duncan commits murder and is executed without delay.
Duncan was babysitting her girlfriend’s daughter, Hailey Olivo, at a house she shared in West Monroe, Louisiana on December 18, 1993. At one point he said he heard a loud noise from the bathroom. When he went to check on Haley, he found her floating in the water. She was declared dead a few hours later.
Duncan claimed it was a tragic accident, but authorities charged Hayne and West with first-degree murder after examining the girl’s body, and found there was evidence that she was sexually assaulted and intentionally drowned. After about two weeks of testimony in 1998, the ju judges found Duncan guilty and sentenced him to death.
A few years later, after Duncan’s conviction, his lawyer revealed evidence that was not presented at trial. This included writing to the prosecutor who offered to share Duncan’s confession about the crime in what the prison informant wrote to the prosecutor, who offered to share Duncan’s confession of the crime in what he claimed was an exchange of generosity (the informant later engraved his testimony from his trial). The previous head injuries that Haley suffered could explain her death. And a video where you can watch West crush Duncan’s teeth cast into Haley’s body. West later says these bite marks match Duncan’s teeth by a forensic dentist manufactured by the defense.
Defense expert Dr. Lowell Levine testified at a hearing in September as part of his post-conviction complaint over the death of his girlfriend’s daughter. He is cited as a short summary of Duncan’s case following his appeal hearing. Credits: Obtained by Verite News and Propublica. It is emphasized by Propublica.
Hayne passed away in 2020. West did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the sentencing.
West previously said he was using what he simply called the “direct comparison” technique. This, according to a 2020 interview with Oxygen.com, pushes a person’s tooth shape directly onto the suspected bite mark to provide the most accurate results.
West said he “I don’t think it’s a reliable system enough to be used in court,” and said he no longer believes in bite mark analysis in a different 2011 appeal deposition. However, he told the New Republic in a 2023 interview that his methods were effective because others were using them.
In this week’s ruling, Sharp also noted the September testimony of Detective Chris Sasser, who investigated Haley’s death. Sasser said the bathrooms and homes where the suspected crime occurred “have no blood, signs of a struggle, cleaners or cleaning agents.” This undermined the state’s claim that there was “massive blood loss,” the ruling said.
Additionally, Sharp discovered that Duncan’s trial lawyer, Louis Scott, provided an invalid lawyer. Sharp pointed to a witness who testified that Scott “didn’t investigate or present any evidence available at the time of trial.”
Scott’s wife told Verite News and Propublica that she suffered from serious health issues, including memory and language disorders, and declined to comment on the judge’s decision.
Duncan is among 55 death row inmates in Louisiana, but until very recently he and others were not in the immediate danger of being executed since 2010 because of the inability to use enforcement drugs. That changed with the 2023 election for Laundry.
Landry has made it clear that he intends to implement these death sentences as soon as possible. Recently, three other states have approved the use of nitrogen gas.
This cleared the state’s first execution path in over 15 years, as Jesse Hoffman was killed using nitrogen gas on March 18th.
He was convicted based on a BABERATED BITE MARK analysis. Louisiana wants to run him anyway.
