Man held in 1983 killing wins freedom
NEW ORLEANS — A man who spent nearly four decades behind bars for a 1983 killing won his freedom Thursday after New Orleans prosecutors joined defense lawyers in asking to have his murder conviction overturned.
Attorneys on both sides said evidence of inconsistencies in the only eyewitness’s testimony was kept from the jury that convicted Raymond Flanks. Their joint motion to vacate his conviction was approved Thursday morning by a state judge.
Flanks, 59, was in orange prison coveralls during the hearing but he was unshackled in the courtroom before Judge Rhonda Goode-Douglas heard attorneys statements. A few hours later, he emerged from the doors of the courthouse wearing a black T-shirt emblazoned with the word “Justice” — arms raised in triumph as a band of supporters applauded.
He was convicted in the December 1983 shooting death of Martin Carnesi during an armed robbery outside the home Carnesi shared with his wife in eastern New Orleans.