Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court won’t hear an appeal from two former Louisiana inmates who were wrongly convicted of murder and wanted to sue prosecutors for damages after spending 28 years in prison.
The justices Monday let stand a federal appeals court ruling that said Earl Truvia and Gregory Bright couldn’t hold the New Orleans district attorney’s office liable for the conduct of prosecutors who violated their constitutional rights.
Truvia and Bright were convicted of murder in 1976, but exonerated in 2002 after a judge ruled prosecutors withheld key evidence.
A federal district court threw out their damage claims, saying they failed to show the district attorney’s office had a policy or custom of withholding evidence. An appeals court affirmed.
The men claimed there was enough evidence of a pattern of violations.