Damon Thibodeaux Wiki – Damon Thibodeaux Biography
Damon Thibodeaux was 22 years old and working as a sailor in Louisiana in 1996 when his step-cousin Crystal Champagne was strangled to death, according to The Innocence Project. His body was discovered with a red extension cord wrapped around his neck and evidence of the possible sexual assault.
Thibodeaux was considered a suspect because of his family relationship with Champagne, but he denied being involved in her death and accepted a polygraph, which he was told had failed. He ended up confessing to having had “consensual and non-consensual sex with the victim and then beating and murdering her” during a nine-hour interrogation, of which less than an hour was logged, The Innocence Project said.
Damon Thibodeaux Age
Damon Thibodeaux was 22 years old.
Damon Thibodeaux Cause of Death
A man who spent 15 years on death row before being exonerated in 2012 died of Covid-19, according to The Innocence Project and an online obituary. “The world lost the contagious smile and joy of Damon Thibodeaux,” read the obituary published by The Times-Picayune this month. He died in Jacksonville, Florida, on August 31, “less than 10 years after his release,” the obituary read. He was 47 years old.
In a tweet, The Innocence Project said that Thibodeaux was “an incredibly kind and gentle person.” “I didn’t know he did it, but he did it,” he said in confession, according to his obituary. Although some of the details of Thibodeaux’s confession were inconsistent with the evidence, he was found guilty and sentenced to death row in Louisiana.
In 2007, the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office began re-investigating the case with The Innocence Project. The investigation found that DNA from the scene matched male DNA that was not Thibodeaux’s.
Witnesses who said they saw Thibodeaux at the crime scene told investigators that they had seen his photo on the news before identifying him and that, in fact, they believed they had seen him at the scene the day after Champagne’s body was found. , when Thibodeaux was already in place. custody.
Meanwhile, “the prosecution’s own expert had concluded before the original trial that Thibodeaux falsely confessed for fear of the death penalty, but this information was never shared with the defense,” according to The Innocence Project. Thibodeaux’s conviction and death sentence were finally overturned in 2012, after spending 15 years on death row and 16 years behind bars. He was the 300th person exonerated through DNA testing.
After his release, Thibodeaux moved to Minnesota, earned his high school diploma, became a long-distance truck driver, and began speaking nationwide on wrongful sentencing reform. His story appeared in the 2017 documentary “The Penalty.”
After his release, Thibodeaux “suffered nightmares that returned him to the harrowing experience of solitary confinement in a small cell and crushing despair, loneliness and hopelessness,” according to his obituary, but “Damon was a spiritual person whose belief in God made him helped him survive his ordeal. ” “Despite what had happened to him, Damon kept looking forward, reestablishing relationships with his family and gathering around him many friends who considered him family,” he said.
In a 2013 interview with NBC affiliate KARE of Minneapolis, Thibodeaux said, “The best part of my day, no matter how good the rest of the day is, is when I wake up every morning and I don’t see those bars.” “You can’t go through something like this and not be angry,” he admitted. “It’s what you do with him that defines you.” Thibodeaux is survived by his mother, Cynthia Thibodeaux; two sisters, Vickie Chauvin and Alice Hensen; a brother, David Thibodeaux; a son, Joshua Thibodeaux; and grandchildren.
Thibodeaux was never compensated for his wrongful conviction. At the time of his death, a claim for compensation was pending.
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