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Thread: Rodricus Crawford - Louisiana

  1. #11
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Prosecutors won’t retry man in death of his son

    The Republic

    SHREVEPORT, La. — The Caddo Parish District Attorney’s Office says it will not retry a man in the February 2012 death of his 1-year-old son after the Louisiana Supreme Court reversed the conviction.

    Rodricus Crawford was sentenced to death in the death of Roderius Lott. In his original trial, his defense attorneys said the child was sick with pneumonia and died from sepsis. Prosecutors however convinced the jury that Crawford smothered his son.

    Last November, the state’s high court reversed the conviction, vacated the death sentence and ordered a new trial.

    Prosecutors said the decision not to bring charges again was based on an extensive review of the case and new evidence which raised questions about the degree of pneumonia together with bacteria in the child’s blood.

    “While the coroner and this office stand by the determination that a homicide occurred the State has the burden of proving all elements of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt. In this circumstantial evidence case, the State must also exclude every reasonable hypothesis of any other crime or innocence factors. Therein lies the problem,” the statement said.

    Crawford’s attorney, Ben Cohen, called the decision “a good day for justice.”

    “This case has always been about injustice and the disproportionate use of the death penalty in Caddo Parish,” Cohen said. “In deciding not to retry Rodricus Crawford, the Caddo Parish District Attorney’s office is righting this injustice, restoring integrity to their office. The Promise of Justice Initiative hopes that this allows Rodricus Crawford an opportunity to grieve, move on with his life and — with help — put this all behind him.”

    http://www.therepublic.com/2017/04/1...ty-overturned/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
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    - Rev. Richard Hawke

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  2. #12
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    From death row to freedom: Rodricus Crawford looks to future

    For Rodricus Crawford, there will be life after death row.

    The 28-year-old Shreveport native, who was convicted of his child’s murder and sentenced to die, now has a free life ahead of him after his conviction was vacated and the Caddo Parish District Attorney’s Office announced it will not retry him for the crime.

    “I’m just trying to get on with my life from now on,” said Crawford, who has always maintained his innocence. “I got five years taken away from me.”

    The saga began on Feb. 16, 2012, when 1-year-old Roderius Lott was found unresponsive in the home that Crawford shared with his grandmother, mother and other relatives in Mooretown.

    "I woke up and found him, ran and took him to the ambulance,” Crawford said in an interview Thursday. “When he left my hands, my whole world changed.”

    After handing over his son, Crawford said, he was placed into the back of a police car. It was there he was told by his son’s mother that the baby had died.

    "When it first happened, I didn’t really want to live anymore,” he said. “Who can deal with that: waking up, your son passed, you go to jail, and they’re saying you did it?”

    In April of that year, Crawford was charged with first-degree murder. The prosecution said the baby had been smothered, while the defense’s expert testified that Roderius died of pneumonia and sepsis.

    Crawford was convicted in November 2013 and sentenced to death. He was transferred to death row at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, where he spent almost three years as attorneys appealed his case.

    At Angola, which has come under fire for its alleged “dehumanizing” conditions in a class-action lawsuit filed by death row inmates, Crawford said the heat was so bad that he felt like he was in a locked car.

    "You feel like an animal, period,” he said. “It’s all a mind game. … You can go crazy. Not ‘can’ – you’re going crazy.”

    Being in prison and awaiting possible death “messed with me,” he said.

    "Who can imagine an innocent person being on death row, and they talk about killing you, and you wake up in a little cell every day?” he said. “Imagine that. I can’t explain it. That’s a feeling I hope nobody could feel.”

    Though in a cell for 23 hours a day, Crawford said, he still was able to connect with other inmates, several from Shreveport and some of whom he believes are innocent.

    “I can honestly say I met some stand-up guys that taught me a lot,” he said. “I didn’t expect it to be like that, but we really look out for each other because you’re in this tier with 16 guys, all day, every day.”

    Meanwhile, he drew attention from national media as one of several cases that allegedly highlights the high number of death penalty sentences in Caddo Parish. Crawford said he was aware of the “headlights” his case was putting on Shreveport, and he began receiving mail from people around the country and Canada.

    "After The New Yorker (article) came out, a lot of people were writing me and showing me a lot of love,” he said.

    “The letters meant a lot.”

    One of Crawford’s lawyers, Cecelia Kappel with the New Orleans-based Capital Appeals Project, said Crawford always told her he was going to go home.

    “Every time I’d go see him on death row and say we lost another motion, he’d say, ‘I’m going home,’” Kappel said. “He’d just speak it into existence.”

    On Nov. 16, 2016 – almost three years from the day Crawford was given the death penalty – the Louisiana Supreme Court vacated Crawford’s conviction and sent the case to the trial court for a new trial.

    Crawford’s defense claimed that potential jurors may have been removed from consideration before the trial because of race. The supreme court determined that the trial court conflated the three-step process used to guide courts in evaluating a claim of racial discrimination in jury selection, and that an inadequate remedy existed short of vacating the conviction.

    Crawford was freed from jail on a $50,000 bond on Nov. 22, 2016, two days before Thanksgiving. After being released, Crawford spent the next few months finding support from his mother and attorneys as he anticipated word regarding the possibility of a new trial.

    Caddo Parish District Attorney James Stewart, who was elected two years after Crawford’s conviction, asked for a new investigation “with an assistant district attorney assigned with no prior experience with the case, to put a new set of eyes onto evidence and procedures that had led to the original prosecution,” a release from his office stated.

    Dale Cox, who prosecuted Crawford and served as acting district attorney following the death of D.A. Charles Scott, resigned from the office in December 2015 following Stewart’s election.

    Hearings were scheduled for February and March, each one postponed as the D.A.’s office awaited and then reviewed evidence returned from the supreme court.

    Then, on Good Friday, the district attorney’s office released a lengthy statement announcing its decision not to retry Crawford in the case of his son’s death.

    “In its opinion, the Supreme Court noted the distinguishable time frame it takes for bruises to form on the lips of the child versus the additional time it would take to result in the child's suffocation,” the statement read. “The requirement to exclude every reasonable possibility of how this could occur is a burden the State cannot meet with the evidence available.”

    Lacking evidence to prove that Crawford had intentionally and directly caused his son’s death, the next avenue to pursue would have been possible negligent homicide, the release stated.

    "While the State feels a reasonable prosecution could be pursued on a charge of criminal negligent homicide, that negligence could extend to other members of the family,” the release stated. “Even if successful on that charge against Crawford, the amount of time he has spent in jail is close to the maximum sentence available if he was convicted.”

    The decision not to retry Crawford was based on the office’s duty to bring a charge only when evidence can support it, the statement concluded.

    Crawford said he received the news over the phone from his mother.

    "I can’t explain in words. When she called me and told me, I really wanted to cry,” he said.

    When asked if reparations will be sought on Crawford’s behalf, Kappel said they will pursue all legal options.

    "What they did wasn’t right, on a lot of different levels,” she said.

    When asked for comment about Crawford possibly seeking restitution, Stewart said “the only truly innocent party is the deceased infant. It seems sinful to try and profit from this tragic loss.”

    Five years after it all began, and with a somewhat abrupt end to his case, Crawford, who has a 9-year-old daughter out of state, is looking to leave Shreveport for a while.

    “I just want to live and spend as much time as I can with my family, because at the end of the day, that’s what it’s about,” he said. “Everything else is materialistic. When everything gets [taken] from you, you just have the people you love. That’s all I care about.”

    http://www.shreveporttimes.com/story...ast/100620380/
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  3. #13
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Former death row inmate sues Caddo DA, coroner

    A Shreveport man who spent almost three years on death row before a murder conviction was vacated has filed suit against several parties including the Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office, Caddo Parish District Attorney’s Office and Shreveport Fire Department.

    Rodricus Crawford, 29, was convicted in Caddo District Court in 2013 of first-degree murder in the death of his 1-year-old son, Roderius Lott.

    Just over a year ago, the Louisiana Supreme Court vacated Crawford’s conviction and sent the case back to the trial court for a new trial. The Caddo Parish District Attorney’s Office announced in April that it would not retry Crawford in the case.

    On Thursday, Nov. 16, Crawford filed suit in U.S. District Court in Shreveport on behalf of himself and his minor daughter, claiming that his right to a fair trial was violated.

    “Mr. Crawford was convicted and sentenced to death based upon false evidence as a result of the failure of defendants to conduct an unbiased autopsy based on professional standards of practice, and to properly train and supervise prosecutors in Caddo Parish,” the complaint alleges. “Because of the lack of training and supervision and adherence to professional standards, the prosecution was illegally based upon both race and religion, and a complete indifference to the evidence.”

    Named defendants in the suit include Coroner Dr. Todd Thoma, forensic pathologist Dr. James Traylor, District Attorney James Stewart, fire department paramedics Sharon Sullivan and Daniel Mars, and former prosecutor Dale Cox.

    Crawford has always maintained his innocence in the death of Lott, who was found unresponsive in the home that Crawford shared with his grandmother, mother and other relatives in Mooretown on Feb. 16, 2012.

    “I woke up and found him, ran and took him to the ambulance,” Crawford said in an interview with The Times in April. “When he left my hands, my whole world changed.”

    After handing over his son, Crawford said, he was placed into the back of a police car. It was there, he was told by his son’s mother, that the baby died.

    “When it first happened, I didn’t really want to live anymore,” he said. “Who can deal with that: waking up, your son passed, you go to jail, and they’re saying you did it?”

    More: From death row to freedom: Rodricus Crawford looks to future

    The prosecution said the baby had been smothered, while a defense expert testified that Roderius died of pneumonia and sepsis.

    Crawford’s defense claimed that potential jurors may have been removed from consideration before the trial because of race. In vacating Crawford’s conviction, the Louisiana Supreme Court determined that the trial court conflated the three-step process used to guide courts in evaluating a claim of racial discrimination in jury selection.

    The court determined that an inadequate remedy existed short of vacating the conviction.

    In his complaint, Crawford alleges intentional infliction of emotional distress, among other counts. He claims that he was investigated, charged, detained and prosecuted based on his race.

    “[B]ut for the reckless and willful conduct of defendants, Mr. Crawford would not have been prosecuted let alone convicted of capital murder,” the complaint alleges. “Defendants knowingly participated in the investigation, arrest and capital prosecution driven by Caddo Parish, Louisiana’s well-known history of racism and the arbitrary application of the death penalty. But for defendants’ actions, no prosecution and conviction of Mr. Crawford would have occurred.”

    Crawford, who spent four years and nine months imprisoned in relation to the case, is being represented by attorneys from The Claiborne Firm of Georgia and The Promise of Justice Initiative in New Orleans.

    Crawford is seeking reparations including compensatory and punitive damages and reasonable attorneys’ fees.

    The Times reached out to the district attorney, Shreveport Fire Department and coroner’s office for comment. They did not respond.

    When asked in April for comment about Crawford possibly seeking restitution, Stewart said, “the only truly innocent party is the deceased infant. It seems sinful to try and profit from this tragic loss.”

    Crawford is requesting a jury trial.

    http://www.shreveporttimes.com/story...ner/874003001/
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  4. #14
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Lawsuits against Caddo DA, coroner by former death row inmate dismissed

    By Shreveport Times

    A federal lawsuit against the Caddo Parish District Attorney's and Caddo Parish Coroner's offices, filed by a Shreveport man whose conviction was vacated in 2016, has been dismissed.

    The suit filed in 2017 by Rodricus Crawford, 31, was dismissed with prejudice by U.S. District Judge Elizabeth E. Foote in a memorandum ruling issued Monday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Shreveport.

    Crawford originally was convicted in Caddo District Court in 2013 of first-degree murder in the death of his infant son, Roderius Lott. He spent almost three years on death row before the conviction was vacated by the Louisiana Supreme Court, which sent the case back to the trial court for a new trial. The Caddo Parish District Attorney’s Office announced in April 2017 that it would not retry Crawford in the case.

    During the original trial, the prosecution said the baby had been smothered, while a defense expert testified that Roderius died of pneumonia and sepsis.

    “I woke up and found him, ran and took him to the ambulance,” Crawford said in an interview with The Times in April 2017. “When he left my hands, my whole world changed.”

    In his complaint, Crawford alleged intentional infliction of emotional distress, among other counts. He claimed that he was investigated, charged, detained and prosecuted based on his race.

    "They have a right to appeal," said Caddo Parish Assistant District Attorney Tommy Johnson. "However, the dismissal with prejudice means the case is over."

    Johnson said "the court recognized that he was never found innocent, despite his allegations. The Supreme Court of Louisiana did not find Mr. Crawford innocent of the charges; it just remanded the case for a new trial. We've always asserted he was not innocent of any crime and that his claims lacked merit."

    Judge Foote's 46-page ruling, Civil Action No. 17-01509, also granted the defendants' motions to dismiss all penalty, punitive or exemplary damages sought by Crawford.

    The defendants were represented in the case by Joy C. Rabalais of Lafayette-based Borne, Wilkes and Rabalais, LLC.

    https://www.shreveporttimes.com/stor...ed/3002871002/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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