State fights murder retrial
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State attorneys said Wednesday they will go to federal court to argue against a possible third trial for an Angola inmate convicted in the 1972 murder of a prison guard.
Albert Woodfox was convicted in 1973 and 1998 in the murder of Brent Miller. Woodfox remains in the maximum security unit at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. He spent 36 years in solitary confinement.
Attorneys for Woodfox said they believe U.S. District Judge James Brady will embrace Tuesday’s recommendation from a magistrate judge for a new trial.
“Sometimes the jury gets it wrong,” said Nicholas Trenticosta of the Center for Equal Justice in New Orleans.
John Sinquefield, Louisiana’s first assistant attorney general, countered that Woodfox should remain at the Louisiana State Prison at Angola for the rest of his life.
Sinquefield prosecuted Woodfox in the 1973 murder trial. As a prosecutor in Orleans Parish a year earlier, he won a conviction against Woodfox on a charge that he escaped from parish custody as a robbery suspect in 1970.
“I’ve had a 37-year career as a prosecutor,” Sinquefield said. “I keep running into Mr. Woodfox.”
Sinquefield testified as a prosecution witness in 1998 and described former Angola inmate Hezekiah Brown as courageous for his decision to identify Woodfox as one of Miller’s killers. But Scott Fleming, another attorney for Woodfox, noted that Brown first told prison authorities he was not at the murder scene.
“Mr. Brown was a serial rapist,” Fleming said. “He was serving a life sentence.”
U.S. Magistrate Judge Christine Noland recommended a new trial for Woodfox, partly because jurors in the 1973 trial were never told that prison officials promised to help free Brown from prison in return for his testimony.
Thirteen years after Woodfox’s conviction, Brown was pardoned. He died before Woodfox’s second trial, but his 1973 testimony was read to the second jury.
Albert Woodfox was convicted in 1973 and 1998 in the murder of Brent Miller. Woodfox remains in the maximum security unit at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. He spent 36 years in solitary confinement.
Attorneys for Woodfox said they believe U.S. District Judge James Brady will embrace Tuesday’s recommendation from a magistrate judge for a new trial.
“Sometimes the jury gets it wrong,” said Nicholas Trenticosta of the Center for Equal Justice in New Orleans.
John Sinquefield, Louisiana’s first assistant attorney general, countered that Woodfox should remain at the Louisiana State Prison at Angola for the rest of his life.
Sinquefield prosecuted Woodfox in the 1973 murder trial. As a prosecutor in Orleans Parish a year earlier, he won a conviction against Woodfox on a charge that he escaped from parish custody as a robbery suspect in 1970.
“I’ve had a 37-year career as a prosecutor,” Sinquefield said. “I keep running into Mr. Woodfox.”
Sinquefield testified as a prosecution witness in 1998 and described former Angola inmate Hezekiah Brown as courageous for his decision to identify Woodfox as one of Miller’s killers. But Scott Fleming, another attorney for Woodfox, noted that Brown first told prison authorities he was not at the murder scene.
“Mr. Brown was a serial rapist,” Fleming said. “He was serving a life sentence.”
U.S. Magistrate Judge Christine Noland recommended a new trial for Woodfox, partly because jurors in the 1973 trial were never told that prison officials promised to help free Brown from prison in return for his testimony.
Thirteen years after Woodfox’s conviction, Brown was pardoned. He died before Woodfox’s second trial, but his 1973 testimony was read to the second jury.
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