A Louisiana man who spent over a quarter of a decade on Death Row has been totally exonerated and is now free courtesy of new evidence.
Last month, the Louisiana Supreme Court voted unanimously to vacate the guilty verdict against Jimmie Chris Duncan, 57, according to Nola.com.
Justice Cade Cole wrote that the decision was made on the grounds that “no rational juror would have found him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of first degree murder had the new evidence been presented at trial.”
The Louisiana Supreme Court has ruled that Jimmy Duncan’s conviction and death sentence were the product of junk science and that he is factually innocent. https://t.co/1ZW6At6qxf @JusticesPromise @LaRepeal #TuckerCarrington @radleybalko @cifsjustice @WTIUSA @innocence pic.twitter.com/Di7EZUgqiE
— Robert Dunham (@RDunhamDP) June 29, 2026
Duncan was convicted in 1998 for killing his girlfriend’s 23-month-old daughter, Haley Oliveaux, based primarily on bite marks that the defense alleged were fabricated, according to ProPublica.
On December 18, 1993, in West Monroe, Louisiana, Duncan (then 25) told police he had fed Oliveaux oatmeal, left her in the bathtub while washing dishes, heard a noise, found her face-down in the water, and attempted CPR.
Oliveaux was later pronounced dead at a hospital. Initial examinations noted scratches, a bruise, and anal injuries but no bite marks. Duncan was initially charged with just negligent homicide.
Oliveaux’s body was later transported to Mississippi, where pathologist Dr. Steven Hayne and dentist Michael West examined it. Hayne reported bite marks and evidence of sexual assault, prompting authorities to upgrade Duncan’s charge to first-degree murder.
The problem, the defense long maintained, is that West manufactured the bite marks by repeatedly pressing a dental mold of Duncan’s teeth into the child’s face and arm. Indeed, a 1993 examination video showed this very thing happening, though the video was never admitted during Duncan’s trial.
Plus, prosecutors were blessed by testimony from jailhouse informant Michael Cruse, who alleged that Duncan had confessed to him in graphic detail. Mind you, prosecutors neglected to mention that Cruse had offered the information in exchange for leniency for his own crimes. Also, Cruse later recanted.
Additional evidence showed that while in lock-up, Duncan was distraught and denied his guilt to other cellmates. In addition, evidence of Oliveaux’s prior head injuries (including skull fractures from a furniture fall weeks earlier) was also excluded at trial.
And according to ProPublica, “Dr. Judy Melinek, a forensic pathologist and an expert witness for the defense, said in court … that [Oliveaux’s] anal injuries were likely caused by hard stools, constipation or an infection, which can often mimic an assault.”
In 2022, the Innocence Project joined Duncan’s legal team to produce a new appeal — this one based on the previously mentioned video footage of West examining Oliveaux’s body.
The Innocence Project, in conjunction with Duncan’s attorneys, argued that the video showed West “tampering with and altering the physical evidence” by repeatedly pressing, jabbing, and scraping a mold of Duncan’s teeth onto Oliveaux’s body.
During a six-day evidentiary hearing held in September 2024, the full video was played in court, prompting now-retired District Court Judge Alvin Sharp to be “aghast” in court.
Although prosecutors argued the video didn’t prove much of anything, Sharp granted Duncan’s factual-innocence claim and vacated the conviction in April of 2025. The state then appealed to the Louisiana Supreme Court. During the appeal-review process, Duncan was released on bail.
As previously reported, the Louisiana Supreme Court eventually upheld the lower-court decision last month.
Jimmie “Chris” Duncan was sentenced to death after allegedly fabricated bite mark analysis helped convict him of murder.
After 28 years in prison, he is free. The Louisiana Supreme Court called the evidence against him “scientifically indefensible.”https://t.co/EJHmHWGNLS
— ProPublica (@propublica) July 5, 2026
Oliveaux’s mother and family has supported Duncan the whole time.
“Haley’s mother, Allison Layton Statham, has publicly supported Duncan’s release from prison and the overturning of his conviction; so have family members of Haley’s father, Lloyd Donald Oliveaux, who died in 1996,” according to ProPublica.
“They have excoriated the state’s tactics, claiming they repeatedly asked for a meeting with prosecutors to express their concerns, but never received a response,” the reporting continues.
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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