Innocent man who spent 16 years on death row ... dies of COVID-19

(Jeff Wheeler/Star Tribune via AP) A Minnesota Vikings cap was one of the gifts Damon Thibodeaux received at a reception at Fredrikson & Byron to welcome him on Oct. 12, 2012, to Minneapolis. Thibodeaux who escaped death row in Louisiana in 2012 after he was exonerated by DNA evidence for a murder he didn’t commit has died of COVID-19 on Sept. 2, 2021. The 47-year-Thibodeaux, who eventually settled with his family in Texas, contracted the coronavirus in August, a few days after getting his first vaccine shot.

By Joe Kelley

A man who spent 16 years on death row for a murder he didn’t commit has died of COVID-19.

New Orleans resident Damon Thibodeaux, 46, lost his battle with COVID-19 two weeks ago, says Steve Kaplan, Thibodeaux’s former lawyer. His death came nine years after he was released from prison, where he spent a good part of 16 years in solitary confinement for the murder of his 14-year-old cousin. His conviction was overturned after DNA evidence proved he wasn’t responsible for the crime, Kaplan says.

“He was only 47, so he lost 16 years of his life behind bars for something he hadn’t done,” Kaplan says. “The resilience and the strength of mind to endure what he went through on death row takes a mental strength that is beyond my comprehension.”