New Trial for Ryan Matthews: Innocent, Mentally Retarded Juvenile to be taken off death row

FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE

April 14, 2004 LOUISIANA CRISIS ASSISTANCE CENTER
636 Baronne Street
New Orleans, La. 70113
(504) 558-9867 Fax: (504) 558-0378 CONTACT
William Sothern
(Cell: 504-251-8346)
Clive A. Stafford Smith
(Cell: 504-338-9867)
attorneys for Ryan Matthews


NEW TRIAL FOR RYAN MATTHEWS
Innocent, Mentally Retarded Juvenile to be taken off Death Row

At a hearing to be held before Judge Henry Sullivan at 10am on Thursday, April 15, 2004, District Attorney Paul Connick will do the right thing today and agree to a new trial for Ryan Matthews.

DNA evidence identifies a total of seven DNA profiles on the mask, shirt, and glove worn by the gunman in the crime for which Ryan was convicted. All of the profiles exclude Ryan. Several DNA profiles incriminate Rondell Love in the crime. After Ryan had been arrested for the murder of Tommy Vanhoose, Love committed another murder, killing a woman during a robbery a few blocks away from the scene of this crime in Bridge City.

"Mr. Connick has clearly made the right decision, and Ryan and his family are grateful for that," said Billy Sothern, one of the lawyers for Ryan Matthews. "We are very glad that Ryan is off death row, and we expect that he will be freed to come home soon."

Barry Scheck, co-founder of the New York based Innocence Project, also complimented the Office of the District Attorney. "I made a number of suggestions of additional DNA testing that could be done, and District Attorney Paul Connick pursued every test that could have helped to decide this case. These all point to Ryan Matthews' innocence. Mr. Connick has evaluated the results in an honorable and fair way. I applaud his decision today. This is the way that the system ought to work," said Scheck.

Ryan, who has spent almost seven years under the threat of the death penalty, was arrested on these charges only two weeks after his seventeenth birthday and was sentenced to die in May of 1999. Ryan was tried and sentenced to death despite being a juvenile, and mentally retarded.

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