Justice Denied

Christopher Jones Fights Back. After 22 years wrongfully imprisoned, he’s seeking the compensation he deserves.

Read the full, official press release here – Jones_Press_Release

Our justice system isn’t perfect, and that’s all too obvious when we look at cases where the defendant was wrongfully accused, convicted, and imprisoned for a crime he or she didn’t commit. Those wrongfully accused lose years of their lives in prison because of the illegal and unconstitutional actions of the city’s prosecutors.

Christopher Jones was recently released from a 200+ year sentence. He served 22 years in Angola Prison for multiple counts of armed robbery. Throughout the prosecution of his case and his time in prison, Mr. Jones continued to proclaim his innocence, and in Fall 2021, he was finally released. The Orleans Parish District Attorney’s office agreed to the release of Mr. Jones because of a Habeas Corpus petition that Mr. Jones’ filed in the Eastern District of Louisiana in 2008 which uncovered that the State intentionally withheld exculpatory evidence. That habeas lawsuit revealed that the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s office withheld material favorable evidence which would have completely undermined the prosecution’s case for convicting Mr. Jones on multiple counts of armed robbery.

Over 20 years after Mr. Jones was put behind bars for crimes he didn’t commit, the Orleans Parish District Attorney admitted that the exculpatory evidence was improperly withheld and that the assistant district attorney misrepresented pertinent facts to the jury to undermine the credibility of Mr. Jones’ testimony at trial (the prosecutor’s file also revealed that the assistant district attorney knew that the misrepresented facts were false). As a result of the prosecutor’s actions, Mr. Jones lost nearly 22 years of his life and suffered immeasurable damage to his life and emotional wellbeing. Unfortunately, there’s no way for Mr. Jones to recover the time lost to him, but he hired Scott Vicknair to fight for him in his civil claim against the State.

Scott Vicknair joined the fight to get our client the compensation he rightfully deserves for the years lost while he was improperly imprisoned. Recently, after a lawsuit was filed in the Eastern District Court of Louisiana, the District Attorney’s office asked the federal court to dismiss the case, a course of action that they have continued to attempt in similar wrongful incarceration cases. Judge Barry W. Ashe disagreed with the District Attorney’s arguments and denied the District Attorney’s attempt to have Mr. Jones’ case dismissed (https://casetext.com/case/jones-v williams51133). As a result, Mr. Jones’s team at Scott Vicknair will continue the fight to get Mr. Jones what he deserves.

If you would like to inquire more about how we are helping, call us at 504-500-1111 or visit us at www.ScottVicknair.com