Man Released from Prison 45 Years After Wrongful Rape Conviction

Wilbert Jones leaves East Baton Rouge Parish Prison with Emily Maw, director of Innocence
AP Photo/Gerald Herbert

A Louisiana man walked out of a state prison after serving 45 years and 10 months of a life sentence for a rape he may not have committed. A district court judge overturned his 1974 rape conviction because the prosecution withheld evidence that strongly suggests he may not have committed the crime.

Louisiana State District Court Judge Richard Anderson released 65-year-old Wilbert Jones this week after ruling that authorities withheld evidence that could have exonerated the man. That evidence included another suspect who more closely resembled the description of the rapist provided by the now deceased victim, TIME magazine reported. Jones was 19-years-old at the time of his conviction. Judge Anderson called the prosecution’s case “weak at best.”

“Freedom. After more than 45 years and ten months. That’s going through my mind,” Jones said as he was greeted by family and well-wishers outside the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on Wednesday. He thanked the legal team from the Innocence Project New Orleans and said his release would not have been possible without their help.


The original case against Jones rested primarily on testimony from the nurse he allegedly raped. She did not pick Jones out of a lineup until three months after her attack. Police put Jones in the lineup despite the nurse’s description that the attacker was taller and had a “much rougher” voice that Jones did, TIME reported.

Jones’ lawyers say the description is a much better match to a man who was arrested in another rape case, but was never charged with the rape. Prosecutors only charged that man with armed robbery. Prosecutors failed to notify Jones’ defense attorneys at the time of the existence of this other possible suspect. The second attack took place 27 days after the nurse’s attack, Jones’ attorneys told TIME.

The judge stated that there is evidence police knew about similarities between the second attacker and the description given by the nurse.

“Nevertheless, the state failed to provide this information to the defense,” the judge wrote in his order overturning Jones’ conviction.

While Jones has not been cleared in the case, prosecutors are not expected to retry the case as the nurse passed away in 2008.

Jones was originally charged with allegedly abducting a nurse at gunpoint from a hospital parking lot on October 2, 1971. He was convicted during a retrial in 1974 on evidence that “rested entirely” on the nurse’s testimony and her “questionable identification,” Judge Anderson stated. The court sentenced him to life in prison without parole

Judge Anderson released Jones on a $2,000 bond. The late nurse’s husband did not oppose his release, and prison warden Timothy Hooper testified for Jones’ release. He called the man a “model inmate.”

Jones’ brother, Plem Jones, said he rarely missed the bi-monthly visits he was allowed to have with his brother.

“I knew that he was going to be freed one day” he said. “But I just didn’t know when. I thought it was going to be long before now.”

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTXGAB, and Facebook.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.