On March 16, 1996, a 27-year-old man was shot and killed while attending a child’s birthday party in the courtyard of the Desire project in New Orleans. Multiple people reported to police that the shooters were three named individuals. The trio had been involved in another shooting a week before, using the same car. Despite having this information, which was never turned over to the defense, the state relied on three eyewitnesses who claimed that Raymond Laugand was the shooter, though these witnesses had named the other individuals six weeks earlier. One of these witnesses, on the day of the crime, told police that she saw someone other than Mr. Laugand don a mask, exit a green car occupied by two other men known to her, run through the courtyard, and shoot the victim several times. By the time of Mr. Laugand’s trial, the witness claimed that she’d told police that she saw Mr. Laugand shoot the victim.
Mr. Laugand was tried twice. His first trial, in 1997, resulted in acquittal for co-defendant Draper Goff, who’d also been identified by the three witnesses. Mr. Laugand’s conviction was overturned after the Louisiana Supreme Court found that his appointed attorney was not prepared for trial. He was convicted, again, of second degree murder in 2001 and sentenced to life.
Innocence & Justice Louisiana’s investigation revealed that the state withheld evidence of Mr. Laugand’s innocence, including: the lead detective lying about the composition of the photographic lineups and the circumstances of the eyewitness statements, prosecutors eliciting false testimony, and the state concealing the evidence pointing to the actual perpetrators. Mr. Laugand’s conviction was overturned in 2023 based on the state’s failure to turn over evidence that points to his innocence. He was released on bail but still faces prosecution. Mr. Laugand, who has always maintained his innocence, spent over 27 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
