HUFFINGTON
08.04.13
SHAWN ROCCO/RALEIGH NEWS AND OBSERVER/MCT
THE UNTOUCHABLES
playing in an organized basketball
game at the time of the murder.
He had video evidence, plus testimony from two Parks and Recreation supervisors, an opposing
player and his coach that put him
on the basketball court when Gerardi was murdered. The jury convicted him anyway, and sentenced
him to death.
During Cousin’s appeal, his attorneys discovered more misconduct. Assistant District Attorney
Roger Jordan had suppressed
statements from Babin that cast
serious doubt on her testimony.
Prior to her “absolutely certain”
claim, Babin had told police that
she hadn’t gotten a good look at
the gunman, and that she wasn’t
wearing her contact lenses at the
time of the attack. Without her
prescription lenses, she said, she
could only see “shapes and patterns.” At some point between the
time she made those statements
to police and her trial testimony,
Babin had somehow grown increasingly sure about Cousin.
The Louisiana Supreme Court
overturned Cousin’s conviction
in 1998, and Connick’s office declined to try him again.
Like John Thompson’s, Cousin’s
murder defense was complicated
by the fact that Orleans Parish
prosecutors were simultaneously
pursuing other charges against
him for unrelated crimes — in his
case, four armed robberies.
“My attorney told me that the
prosecutors were going to try
each of the robberies separately,”
Former
Durham,
N.C., district
attorney Mike
Nifong takes
the witness
stand in his
own defense
after pleading
not guilty to
a criminal
contempt of
court charge
in 2007.