Wrongfully Convicted Louisiana Man Freed After 17 Years In Prison

A Louisiana man has been set free after spending 17 years in prison for an armed robbery he did not commit. 

Royal Clark Jr. was exonerated after the New Orleans Innocence Project convinced the Jefferson Parish district attorneys office to re-examine fingerprint evidence in his case. 

According to NOLA.com, the IPNO filed a motion to throw out Clark’s conviction after he was proven innocent. The Judicial District Court Judge Donald Rowan vacated the conviction following a short hearing Thursday.

Clarke was wrongfully convicted on the strength of an eyewitness who falsely identified him as a suspect in a Burger King robbery that happened in 2001. Clark was found guilty on his 25th birthday and walked out of Louisiana’s Angola prison one day after his 42nd birthday. 

Clark Jr had always maintained his innocence, but it wasn’t until the Innocence Project got involved that he finally had a chance to be heard. 

The organization repeatedly requested that the DA take another look at the fingerprint evidence found on a cup used by the suspect prior to the robbery. When Authorities finally ran the fingerprint through a state database, it matched that of Jessie Parry, a 54-year-old man who is serving 30 years in prison for a string of robberies with a similar m.o.

However, officials claim that the advancement in technology used to ultimately exonerate Clark wasn’t around at the time of the crime. 

“There is currently no clear law that gives prisoners a right to ask for these forensic database searches in cases not involving DNA,” the IPNO pointed out in a news release according to The Advocate. “If the [D.A.’s Office] had refused to re-examine and run the prints, Mr. Clark would likely have stayed in prison until he was 74 years old for a crime he did not commit.”