Malcolm Alexander - IP

On January 30, 2018, after a reinvestigation by the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s
Offfice district court judge dismissed the indictment and ordered the release of Malcolm
Alexander who wrongly served nearly 38 years for a rape that DNA evidence proves he
didn’t commit. He was arrested for the 1979 crime based on a deeply flawed, unreliable
identification procedure. His paid lawyer—who was subsequently disbarred after complaints
of neglect and abandonment were filed against him in connection with dozens of other
cases—failed in his most basic duties to present a defense. Alexander was subsequently
released from the Jefferson Parish jail.

Alexander has always maintained his innocence of the November 8, 1979, rape of the
owner of a new antique store on Whitney Avenue in Gretna, Louisiana. The victim, who was

white, was grabbed from behind in the empty store by a black man and taken to a small,

dark, private bathroom in the back of the store where she was raped from behind with a gun

to her head.

In February 1980, Alexander, who is black, had a consensual encounter with a white

woman who asked him for money and then later accused him of sexual assault. This

encounter, which was uncorroborated and later dropped by the police, prompted police to

place Alexander’s photo in a photo array that was shown to the victim over four months

after she was attacked at gunpoint by a complete stranger. The assailant was behind the

victim for the entirety of the crime, and her opportunity to view him was extremely limited.

According to police reports, the victim “tentatively” selected Alexander’s photo. Research

has shown that multiple identification procedures can contaminate a witness’s memory,

causing a witness to become confused about whether he or she recognizes the person from
the event or the earlier procedure while also making the witness more confident in his or her

identification. Yet, police conducted a physical line-up three days later that included

Alexander. Alexander was the only person from the photo array who was shown again to

the victim in the physical line-up. The lead detective on the case was not available to

conduct the line-up, so another detective conducted the procedure. According to the report

of the lineup, the victim made a “possible” identification and the word “tentative” was written

next to Alexander’s line-up number. However, when the original detective returned later that

day and took a statement from the victim, the victim’s confidence was recorded as 98

percent sure that Alexander was the assailant, and by the time she got to trial she testified

that she had no doubt that he was the assailant. Blood type testing of the rape kit was

available at the time that could have either supported the victim’s identification or proven

that Alexander wasn’t the perpetrator but was never sought.

A review of the trial record reveals that Alexander’s attorney failed to make court

appearances and to file important pleadings, including a motion challenging the

identification. A review of the one-day trial transcript reveals that the attorney, who was

subsequently disbarred, failed to make an opening statement, did not call any witnesses for

the defense, failed to adequately cross-examine the state’s witnesses about the

identification and presented a closing argument that was a mere four pages of the 87-page

transcript. Alexander received a life sentence for the guilty verdict. Although the attorney

promised to file an appeal of the verdict, he never filed it.

The Innocence Project first took up Alexander’s case in 1996 but quickly learned that the

rape kit and a semen-stained towel had been destroyed only four years after his conviction.

Alexander never gave up and continued the fight to prove his innocence. In 2013, hair

evidence recovered from the location where the rape took place was found at the Jefferson

Parish Sheriff’s Office Crime Lab. The Innocence Project brought on Innocence Project
New Orleans as local counsel, and the organizations sought DNA testing of the hair

evidence. Three crime scene hairs had the same DNA profile that did not match to

Alexander or the victim.

Based on this information and subsequent conversations with the victim, the Jefferson

Parish District Attorney’s office moved with the Innocence Project to vacate Alexander’s

conviction and dismiss the indictment in court today.

Alexander was awaited by his son and grandson (both named Malcolm) as well as his

mother and sister.