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Man Freed After 13 Years on Louisiana's Death Row
December 28, 2000
ANGOLA, La. (Reuters) - Michael Roy Graham Jr., walked through the Louisiana State Penitentiary gates a free man on Thursday after the murder conviction that put him on death row for 13 years was dismissed, officials said. His 5 p.m. CST release came one day after the state attorney general's office dismissed charges that he and co-defendant Albert Ronnie Burrell murdered an elderly couple in 1986.
A new investigation of the case was launched when a state district court judge earlier this year threw out the convictions of Graham, 37, and Burrell, 44, after defense attorneys cited questionable trial testimony and a lack of physical evidence linking the pair to the crime.
On Wednesday, attorney general's prosecutors Frederick Duhy Jr. and Ellison Travis dismissed the charges, citing "a total lack of credible evidence" connecting the pair to the shooting deaths of Callie and William Delton Frost.
Burrell is scheduled for a hearing on Tuesday to finalize paperwork for his release, prison spokeswoman Kathy Jett said.
In dismissing the charges, the attorney general's office stated, "In fact, the undersigned prosecutors would deem it a breach of ethics to proceed to trial without evidence that would make it reasonable to argue to a jury that proof beyond a reasonable doubt exists in this instance."
They cited irregularities in the way original prosecutors handled the case, including relying solely on witness testimony, much of which was later discredited, and failing to disclose that a key witness had a history of mental illness and a plea agreement with prosecutors in an unrelated case in exchange for his testimony in the Frost case.
DNA tests -- unavailable in 1986 -- on blood found at the murder scene that was presumed to come from one of the intruders did not match either either Graham or Burrell, authorities said.
Graham, who has spent most of his adult life on death row, planned to return immediately to his family in Virginia, his attorney, Michele Fournet, said. He was visiting the state when he was arrested.
He had little to say as the left the sprawling prison compound northeast of Baton Rouge. "I'm going to see my family," Graham said when asked about his plans.
His description of 13 years on death row was even more terse: "It was pretty bad."
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