Appeals courts had upheld Thibodeaux' 1996 conviction for Crystal Champagne’s rape and murder. The Innocence Project collected a variety of challenges to suggest that Thibodeaux was in fact innocent, although no DNA was available to exonerate him and no alternative perpetrator could be identified beyond speculation. Jefferson Parish District Attorney Paul Connick undertook a careful re-examination of the case and its evidence. The effort relied upon the work of forensic psychiatrist Michael Welner, M.D., who was retained by Connick to re-examine the case in light of confession evidence that was pivotal to Thibodeaux' conviction. Dr. Welner concluded the confession was false. Connick vacated the conviction, freeing Thibodeaux last September.
Dr. Welner's exhaustive review of evidence included interview of Thibodeaux, his interrogating officers, and other community witnesses. The examination revealed that Thibodeaux, beset with guilt over the loss of a cousin he felt obliged to protect, increased the suspicion of officers when he offered statements to them that were clearly untrue. When he then failed a polygraph and was confronted with the perception that this confirmed his guilt, Thibodeaux believed denial to be futile and he confessed to minimize consequences to him by ending any controversy that would place him at risk in a high-exposure tragedy of rape-murder of a teenager. Otherwise, however, the interrogation was unremarkable. "It is a myth that officer misconduct or a defendant's intellectual deficiency is necessary for a false confession," noted Dr. Welner. "Thibodeaux, who is far from mentally retarded, demonstrates how one's own estimate of the power of polygraph evidence and exposure to the death penalty risk, along with his own actions of lying in interrogation that would inspire any of us to be suspicious, can increase the pressure of the interrogation setting. This is one of those cases with lessons for all sides of the law, and for the general public as well."
The program revisits the complex case and the improbable justice process that brought it to this point. "It’s still very much a mystery," notes Dr. Welner, who remains involved in the reinvestigation. "But the degree of contradiction from a confession that incriminated him even more than the evidence could possibly allow was persuasive doubt to impact my opinion that this was a false confession. I applaud Mr. Connick's decision to not keep a man locked up based upon evidence that creates substantial doubt that he was involved in any way in Crystal’s horrible end."
Adds Dr. Welner, "I will never forget Dawn Champagne’s sitting with pain for having to consider her daughter’s inhuman murder is not yet solved, and will work with Mr. Connick, Steve Wimberly, lead investigator Vince Lamia, the Sherriff’s Office, and the people of Marrero, Bridge City and nearby communities to give Crystal Champagne and every parent who loves their little girl the justice she deserves. If Damon Thibodeaux should not be locked up, we respect justice only by moving on and joining with the extended community to help us resolve answers. I expect we will one day know the answers, and I expect we will all be surprised. This is why we all must view justice as an exercise in tireless inquiry, and to not refrain from continuing to ask."
