While in their car at a store in New Orleans on April 23, 1984, a man and woman were approached by two Black males. The men, one of whom had a gun, tried to rob them. The victims wound up exiting their car and struggling with the would-be robbers. One of the robbers waved his gun at the male victim, attempting to get him to stop struggling with the second robber. A shot was fired and 17-year-old Eric Batiste, the second robber, was shot in the head and killed. The gunman fled on foot.
Police arrived and the attempted robbery victims described a teenaged Black male, unshaven, thin, dark complexion, with a raspy voice, and short afro. Both describe the gunman as 5’10” tall. A police teletype was broadcast and included Mr. Batiste’s name. A police officer reported that George Toca was friends with Mr. Batiste, which led to Mr. Toca’s photo being included in a photographic lineup. Though the male attempted robbery victim told police that he would not be able to identify the gunman, both attempted robbery victims made cross-racial identifications of Mr. Toca’s photo. Mr. Toca, 17 years old at the time, is 5’5” tall, an inch shorter than Mr. Batiste. He also had four gold teeth across the top of his mouth, a feature never reported by either attempted robbery victim. Despite presenting an alibi, Mr. Toca was convicted by a jury of second degree murder in April 1995 and sentenced to life.
Innocence & Justice Louisiana’s investigation uncovered the existence of several witnesses to whom the real perpetrator had confessed – a man that closely resembled the descriptions of the gunman and that had been arrested for armed robberies and thefts. Other witnesses corroborated Mr. Toca’s alibi. As Mr. Toca’s case was making its way to the Supreme Court of the United States, the state offered him a plea deal that would guarantee his immediate release. Reluctantly and after almost 31 years in prison, Mr. Toca pleaded guilty to a crime he hadn’t committed. His conviction was vacated in January 2015, pursuant to an Alford plea to manslaughter and a guilty plea to attempted armed robbery.
He continued to maintain his innocence and fight his case, resulting in his plea being vacated and charges being dismissed in September 2022, 38 years after his friend was killed.
