Raymond Flanks speaks with reporters in New Orleans in the wake of his exoneration.
A man who was exonerated after serving 38 years in prison for a 1983 murder in New Orleans has settled his federal civil rights lawsuit against the city, Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office and former police officers for $2.5 million.
Raymond Flanks, who was exonerated for the murder of Martin Carnesi, 59, outside his home during an apparent robbery attempt, settled the lawsuit last month that was filed in the Eastern District of Louisiana. As a result, district Judge Nannette Jolivette Brown dismissed the claims against defendants with prejudice on Jan. 20, according to a court order.
One of the firms that represented Flanks in the litigation, Murell Law in New Orleans, released a statement expressing satisfaction that Flanks’ ordeal was now over.
“No amount of money will ever correct the abhorrent injustice committed by the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office decades ago that caused Mr. Flanks to spend over 30 years in Angola (prison) for a crime he didn't do,” the statement says. “Yet, because of this $2.5 million settlement, Mr. Flanks will now get to move on with his life, get a fresh start with his loved ones, and pursue the passions and joys that sat dormant while he was wrongfully incarcerated.”
Neither the parish District Attorney’s Office nor the plaintiff’s attorneys responded to requests for comment. No further details about the settlement were released, except that the plaintiff and defendants would bear their own attorney costs and fees.
The group Innocence & Justice Louisiana reported that the failure to turn over evidence to defense attorneys in the Flanks case occurred during the term of former District Attorney Harry Connick.
“James (Jim) Williams was the lead prosecutor, failing, as he did in other wrongful conviction cases, to turn over police reports and notes, grand jury testimony and information about the other robberies to the defense,” Innocence & Justice Louisiana reported. “Only after the first trial did Mr. Flanks receive a ballistics report showing that the gun he possessed was definitely not the gun that killed the victim.”
Flanks’ 1985 conviction for first-degree murder resulted in a life sentence. The prosecution’s case was largely based on the identification of Flanks as the assailant by the victim’s wife, Faye Carnesi. But the National Registry of Exonerations later reported that her identification of the shooter contained multiple inconsistencies.
Eventually, an attorney representing Flanks secured an agreement and motion with the prosecution to vacate his conviction in November 2022, the registry reported.
“The parties agree that, in this case which relied on a single eyewitness, competent counsel armed with the favorable evidence would have been able to present a compelling case that Mrs. Carnesi was innocently mistaken when presented with the wrong suspect, that (Flanks) did not resemble the perpetrator and that the car he was arrested in did not fit the one at the crime scene," the motion said.
Numerous other overturned convictions date back to Connick’s term as district attorney, according to NOLA.com.
Flanks’ first trial ended in a mistrial because the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict. A second trial, however, led to his sentencing to a term of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
