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Louisiana Supreme Court Overturns 1998 Murder Conviction
The state’s highest court unanimously vacated a death row inmate’s conviction after finding the bite mark evidence used at trial scientifically invalid. The ruling followed a 2025 investigation into forensic practices and leaves open the possibility of retrial.
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The Louisiana Supreme Court on Monday unanimously overturned the 1998 first-degree murder conviction of Jimmie “Chris” Duncan, ending his time on death row. The seven-member court upheld a lower court decision that the bite mark analysis presented by forensic dentist Michael West and pathologist Steven Hayne was unreliable.
Justice Cade R. ” Two justices, including Chief Justice John Weimer, filed concurring opinions.
the case Duncan was arrested in December 1993 after the death of his former girlfriend’s two-year-old daughter, Haley Oliveaux, in West Monroe. Prosecutors charged him with first-degree murder after West and Hayne reported bite marks and signs of sexual assault.
A jury convicted Duncan in 1998 and sentenced him to death. Nine other people convicted in part on evidence from the same two experts have since been released; three were on death row. Duncan’s new legal team later presented a video of West’s 1993 examination that was not shown at trial.
The recording showed West pressing a mold of Duncan’s teeth into the child’s body. Cole wrote that it was “scientifically indefensible” to attribute the resulting marks to Duncan.
Next steps The district attorney’s office had appealed the lower court’s April 2025 ruling that freed Duncan on bail. A spokesperson for the office previously indicated that prosecutors would consider retrying the case if the Supreme Court did not reinstate the conviction.
Chris Fabricant of the Innocence Project, part of Duncan’s legal team, said any retrial would raise questions of fairness. Duncan’s attorneys also include the Mwalimu Center for Justice and the Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner law firm.
