Crime & Safety

Former Death Row Inmate, Attorney Address Rosemont School of the Holy Child

John Thompson spent more than a decade on death row before his lawyer, J. Gordon Cooney, Jr., a Rosemont School alum, helped prove his innocence.

John Thompson spent 18 years in prison in Louisiana—14 of them on death row—for a crime he didn’t commit. 

One of his lawyers, J. Gordon Cooney Jr., who graduated from in 1973 and now works for a Philly law firm, was on hand at his alma mater with his friend and client on Thursday to talk about the importance of family, friends and faith. 

It all started when… 

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A businessman named Ray Liuzza was robbed and shot to death by his car in New Orleans in December 1984. Several weeks later, in an unrelated incident, a man attempted to carjack three teenagers, one of whom kicked the robber in the face to save himself and his siblings. 

Thompson and another man, Kevin Freeman, were arrested in connection with the Liuzza murder. Thompson had been involved in buying and selling stolen property at the time, including a ring that belonged to Liuzza and the gun used to murder him, which implicated him in Liuzza’s death.

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Though there were no suspects in the carjacking, the teenagers saw Thompson’s picture in the news and thought he might have been the man. Prosecutors decided to try him on the carjacking charges first, Cooney said, explaining it would be easier to convict him on murder charges if he had already been found guilty of that. 

Thompson was convicted of both crimes. Years of appeals postponed his death sentence; The last scheduled execution date was May 20, 1999. His younger son would graduate May 21, and Thompson was alive for it, having had his robbery conviction overturned and death sentence revoked earlier in the year.

On the desk of one of the prosecutors was a trophy of sorts—an electric chair with six heads on it, one of which was Thompson’s. Mistakes were later found in the trials of all six men, said Cooney, who worked on Thompson's case pro bono.

“I think that tells you a lot about the way in which the prosecutor thought about his job,” Cooney said.

The reinvestigation

Thompson’s lawyers hired a private investigator, who turned up a lab report given to the district attorney—Harry Connick, Sr., the father of the singer—two days before the carjacking trial. The report contained the perpetrator’s blood on the pant leg of the teenage boy who had kicked him in the face. It was determined the carjacker had Type B blood.

Thompson didn’t know what his blood type was at the time, but it was found to be Type O.

“Law and common sense and morality required the prosecutor to turn that over to John’s defense,” Cooney told the students.

And in Liuzza’s murder investigation, a witness who saw a man fleeing the scene described him as being about six feet tall with close-cut hair. At the time, Freeman was 5-foot-11 with close-cut hair. Thompson was 5-foot-8, and his hair was definitely not close-cut, as evidenced by a mug shot taken of Thompson after a traffic stop. The description offered by the witness was never given to the defense, Cooney said.

Thompson spent 14 years in a 6-by-9-foot cell for 23 hours a day. On May 9, 2003, Thompson was released from prison. 

Now, Thompson’s story is part of a larger national debate. He sued the district attorney’s office for $14 million—a million dollars for each year of his life spent on death row—and won. However, that decision was overturned by the Supreme Court in a 5-4 vote. Their rationale was that there have to be multiple offenses in order for the district attorney’s office to be held liable, Cooney said.

“I think most prosecutors do the right thing,” Cooney said. “But there are no consequences for prosecutors who break the law.”

Looking back, moving forward

What was it like to be on death row? A student asked.

“Over a period of time, you have to depend on the people around you,” Thompson said. “Even though the person next to you is labeled as a serial murderer, you’re forced to be there. You’ve got to accept all of that. And I was innocent, so who was I to say that they were guilty?”

He had a chance to reflect on the mistakes he had made in his life that had led him to that point.

“I still have post-traumatic stress,” Thompson said. “I still think about people walking by me to die.”

But Thompson was also given a second chance, he said. He was given support by the law firm that helped save his life, and Habitat for Humanity built him a home. A book called “The Killing Time” was written about his experience, and Touchstone Pictures recently announced a Matt Damon/Ben Affleck movie called “The Nine Lives of John Thompson” about him and his lawyers.

“I look at other exonerees, and they didn’t have that kind of support system,” Thompson said. “The most serious challenge is getting people to treat us not like criminals." 

For example, he said, on most employment offers, there’s a box you have to check if you’ve ever been convicted of a crime—which he has been. 

“I don’t even need a job, I just go around messing with people,” Thompson joked. “But don’t hold my past against me if you’re going to give me a chance.”

Exonerated prisoners going back to prison is a serious problem, Thompson said. He founded Resurrection After Exoneration to help exonerated prisoners return to freedom in a positive way that aims to reduce recidivism. The foundation assists exonerated prisoners with things like legal needs and medical needs, as well as six to nine months of computer classes.

“When I returned, what was made available to me—not because it had to be, but for good people to want to do good things for me—I learned from some good teachers,” Thompson said. “There are some bad people, but there are a lot of good people in my life… I give back what I was given.” 

What students could take away

“When you do one good thing, it often doesn’t end there,” Cooney told students. “There is a trickle-down effect of doing good things.”

More than that, Thompson told students to appreciate their families.

“The love, the respect—you never know what tomorrow will bring,” he said. “Keep that understanding.”

Thompson also told students to believe in themselves.

“Don’t allow other people to make decisions for you,” Thompson said. “I was buying and selling stolen property, but I didn’t see how that could relate to this. Make every decision for yourself… Don’t allow someone else to do bad things and you be a part of it.”


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