At about 10:45PM on March 6, 1996, drivers in Avondale stopped when they saw the body of 25-year-old Michelle Gallagher in the middle of the street. Police arrived and Ms. Gallagher was able to report that she’d been thrown from a car. She was taken to a hospital, where she died. The autopsy revealed that she’d been cut and stabbed, her heart pierced. One of the drivers at the scene recognized Ms. Gallagher from the neighborhood and reported that he’d seen her a few miles up the road, in the Waggaman neighborhood, minutes before she was found. She’d been stumbling down the shoulder of the road. A car stopped by her and she spoke to someone in that car.
Lead detective Grey Thurman testified that the distance between where this witness saw Ms. Gallagher and the spot where she was found was 2.4 miles, i.e. not a walkable distance in the 15 minutes between the two events. All police could determine in the first two weeks after the crime was that Ms. Gallagher had last been seen walking from a store at about 10:20PM. There were no witnesses to the crime and no one knew where Ms. Gallagher was going when she walked off alone.
Over two weeks later, a purported witness named Christopher claimed to police that he’d witnessed the murder. At trial, Christopher testified that he saw the victim with an old white guy. He saw her again 25 minutes later, this time with Michael Williams, in Mr. Williams’s car. Christopher claimed to have followed them on a bicycle, as he suspected that Mr. Williams and Ms. Gallagher were about to have sex. He followed them for almost a mile, then watched them smoke crack and start arguing. The victim, Christopher claimed, refused to have sex with Mr. Williams, who drove off with her. Christopher followed them to an intersection where Mr. Williams stopped, walked around to the passenger side, and removed Ms. Gallagher from the car. Christopher claimed to have witnessed all of this within a 28-minute window. Based only on this account, police arrested Mr. Williams in March 1996. A search of his car and home turned up no evidence. Though semen was found on Ms. Gallagher’s jeans and blood was found under her fingernails, no DNA testing was performed.
Mr. Williams told police that he’d just returned from a trip to Mississippi that night and had nothing to do with the murder. A jury convicted Mr. Williams of second degree murder in July 1997 and he was sentenced to life. His trial attorney did not independently interview Christopher, failed to investigate Ms. Gallagher’s movements on the night of the crime, and never requested DNA testing.
Our investigation revealed that the state never turned over evidence that established that the window of the crime was 12, not 28 minutes. In that time, another witness, whose statements were hidden from the defense, reported seeing Ms. Gallagher over a mile away from where Christopher claimed to have seen her. We also found a second police statement by Christopher that was recorded, but never transcribed. Christopher’s two statements conflict in several key areas: where he last saw the victim, where the body was found, whether or not he saw Mr. William’s car where the victim’s body was left.
In February 2009, Christopher recanted his trial testimony and wrote that he made false statements because he thought that he would be accused of the murder if he didn’t testify falsely against Mr. Williams. Christopher recanted again in September 2009, writing that he did not see either Mr. Williams or Ms. Gallagher that night; he’d not followed them on a bike, seen them arguing, or see the body being dumped from a car. He’d been high when police questioned him and threatened with being charged with the murder if he did not give a statement.
We presented both the recantations and evidence of the victim’s timeline and whereabouts that night to the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office. They performed their own investigation and eventually agreed to join Innocence & Justice Louisiana’s motion to vacate the conviction.
Mr. Williams was exonerated and released in November 2011, over 15 years after his wrongful incarceration.
