Henry James

The Crime

On Nov. 22, 1981, 20-year-old Henry James Jr. spent much of the day helping a friend repair his car in Westwego, Louisiana. Later that day, his friend was driving Mr. James around when they got into an accident. Mr. James’ friend was arrested. 

Around 8 p.m. that night, Mr. James went to his friend’s house to tell his wife what had happened. Afterward, he went home.

At 6 a.m. the following morning, his friend’s wife was awakened by a man who entered through the back door. He raped her and fled.

Later, as the victim described her attacker to the police, she told them that she did not recognize him.

The Investigation

On Nov. 24, 1981, a police officer patrolling the neighborhood saw Mr. James, and believed he fit the description of the attacker given by the woman. The officer told the detective working on the case, who subsequently presented to the victim a book containing about 75 photographs of Black men. The victim, a white woman, ultimately selected a photograph of Mr. James and identified him as her attacker.

The next day, Mr. James was arrested and put into a lineup. The victim identified him again. Mr. James was charged with one count of aggravated rape.

The Trial

In May 1982, Mr. James went to trial in Jefferson Parish District Court. The victim identified him as her attacker on the stand.

Mr. James testified and denied committing the crime. He described his day with the victim’s husband. On the morning of the attack, he had been asleep until he was awakened by his stepfather to go to work. His stepfather corroborated this story, and another witness testified that he saw Mr. James walking to work and gave him a ride. His boss testified that Mr. James was at work at 6:48 a.m.

The jury never heard that blood type testing on the evidence from the rape kit had excluded Mr. James as the attacker. Although the prosecution had turned the laboratory report over to Mr. James’ defense attorney, the attorney never introduced it in court.

On April 15, 1982, Mr. James was convicted of aggravated rape. On May 7, 1982, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

The Exoneration

Mr. James lost his appeals. In 2005, he reached out to the Innocence Project seeking DNA testing. At that time, Jefferson County crime lab personnel searched for evidence in the case, but were unable to find anything.

On May 3, 2010, Milton Dureau, who worked in the lab, was looking for evidence in a different case when he happened upon a slide from Mr. James’ case. He remembered the case number from his earlier search for evidence. The slide was sent to Orchid Cellmark in Maryland for DNA testing. On Sept. 26, 2011, the tests excluded Mr. James as the rapist.

On Oct. 20, 2011, 24th Judicial District Judge Henry Sullivan vacated Mr. James’ conviction and the charges were dismissed. 

That night, Mr. James was put into solitary confinement to ensure his safety. The following morning, on Oct. 21, 2011, he was released from the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. 

Mr. James subsequently was awarded $480,000 in compensation from the state of Louisiana.