New Orleans man freed after accuser says he fabricated robbery: ‘I have been tortured by the lie I told’

On Saturday, Jermaine Hudson went to his sister’s house for what might otherwise have been a typical family gathering: smiles and laughter, takeout food on paper plates, music in the background.

But Hudson’s relatives couldn’t stop staring at him. A day before, he’d been released from prison after spending more than half his 42 years inside on a non-unanimous jury conviction for armed robbery.

The day before that, his accuser had come forward to Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams’ office to swear he’d made the crime up, for a reason that still brought him shame.

While former DA Leon Cannizzaro often viewed recanting witnesses with suspicion, prosecutors under Williams dismissed Hudson’s charge at record speed. The outcome could be a sign of what’s to come as prosecutors comb through hundreds of split jury cases.

“I thank God for sending Mr. Williams,” Hudson said Monday. “He’s just one of those men that God sent on a mission, and he’s listening. He’s actually listening.”

In the 22 years that Hudson’s life has been defined by a supposed stick-up, few people were willing to hear Hudson out, he says. He’s now catching up with his fianceé, hugging the daughter he barely knew when he went to prison and hoping to find work as a plumber. But all that seemed impossible not long ago.

On the night of March 1, 1999, Hudson’s accuser, then 18, told his father that while riding his bike home from work, he’d been robbed at gunpoint of cash and his St. Christopher medal. The father called police, who presented the accuser with a photographic line-up a month later. The accuser picked Hudson, who lived in the area.

Hudson had pleaded guilty to armed robbery before, at 16, but by 1999 he was working at a grocery store and providing for his 10-month- and 2-week-old daughters.

The day before his trial in March 2000, Hudson says, a prosecutor offered him a plea deal for a 5-year sentence. “I ain’t about to take no time for something I didn’t do,” Hudson recalls saying.

At trial, the accuser broke down crying. To Hudson, it was the sight of a man anguished about making a false accusation. Jurors saw it another way: they voted 10-2 to convict.

In other states, a split jury wouldn’t have led to a conviction. But Louisiana and Oregon allowed non-unanimous convictions, until the U.S. Supreme Court last year found them to be unconstitutional.

Hudson says his body went numb at the verdict. Prosecutors invoked Hudson’s prior conviction, and Judge Julian Parker sentenced him to 99 years in prison. For the next two decades, Hudson’s appeals were denied.

As Hudson served his sentence, his family members died off one by one. He wondered why the accuser picked him and felt bitterness until he found Christ, he says. “I knew in my heart that I had to forgive him, because there had to be a motive,” Hudson says.

While the Supreme Court’s 2020 decision on split verdicts for now applies only to cases with pending appeals, Williams, who took office Jan. 11, has decided to apply it to older cases like Hudson’s.

Hudson’s case was one of a crop of 22 in which prosecutors moved to vacate. On that date, he agreed to plead guilty to robbery and receive a sentence of time served at a hearing set for Wednesday before Judge Nandi Campbell.

Then something happened that his attorney, Jamila Johnson of the Promise of Justice Initiative, calls one of “the miracles of the universe.” On Thursday, the original accuser came forward.

The man now says he made up a lie about the robbery because he didn’t want to admit he’d spent his money on drugs. He threw away the medal. He picked Hudson from the lineup at random, the man says.

The man’s substance abuse issues have continued. He’s currently in a rehab facility in Terrebonne Parish. “For the last 20 years since this happened, I have been tortured by the lie I told,” he said in an affidavit sworn to Assistant District Attorney Cormac Boyle on Thursday.

Louisiana law says recantations should be treated with “utmost suspicion,” in part due to the danger that a defendant’s acquaintances will pressure witnesses. Cannizzaro fought to uphold convictions even after witnesses recanted, and he prosecuted several of them for perjury.

However, Hudson’s case was different in that he was already getting out of prison. Hudson says he was fully prepared to plead guilty, simply so he could get out. He and his lawyer say no one in his camp approached the accuser.

Williams’ office agreed to provide the recanting accuser with immunity and moved to put the affidavit on the court record the next day. 

Emily Maw, chief of the district attorney’s civil rights division, said everything the purported victim says now is “entirely consistent with the case.” She added that prosecutors in 1999 interviewed an alibi witness for Hudson and disbelieved her.

The DA’s Office moved to dismiss Hudson’s charge. “Mr. Hudson, I am so sorry that this happened to you. I am so sorry,” Maw said through tears.

In a statement, Maw said the accuser was not aware that Hudson’s conviction had already been tossed. However, the accuser told prosecutors he felt more comfortable coming forward now that Williams has taken office, she said.

While many of the 22 split jury convictions vacated last month are slated to end in plea agreements, Maw’s civil rights division is reviewing others for mistakes during or before trial.

Johnson, Hudson’s attorney, said her non-profit suspects there are more false convictions produced by split votes. A review by this newspaper in 2018 found that Louisiana’s dozens of proven wrongful convictions were no more likely to be the result of split juries than unanimous ones. 

Hudson says he bears no ill will to his accuser.

“I just thank God that it’s finally over,” he said. “Thank God for revealing the truth. I forgive the guy and pray that he gets his life back on track.”

Shopping

Purchases made via links on our site may earn us an affiliate commission