A New Orleans man is granted a new trial and released from prison after serving 30 years for a crime he didn’t commit.
Larry Moses was handed a life sentence for two counts of first-degree murder in 1995. The crime took place in 1994 in New Orleans.
According to the Innocence Project, in January 1994 a suspect approached two people at the intersection of Feliciana and Humanity Streets in an attempt to rob them before fatally shooting both victims.
Six months later a man who saw his ex-girlfriend with Moses went to police and fingered him in the two slayings. Moses was convicted based on this identification and that of another witness who claimed to identify him by his voice as the killer.
“Instead a feeling sorry for yourself, you say oh well ain’t much I could do about it, but get stronger, because if I give up and feel sorry for myself I’m gonna disappear,” Moses said to WWL-TV. “Don’t stop fighting you know? And that’s what I did.”
In addition to being convicted of a crime he has maintained for decades he didn’t commit, Innocence Project New Orleans attorney Charell Arnold said Moses barely escaped the death penalty due to a single juror’s vote.
“Mr. Moses is innocent. He has provided evidence of his innocence,” Arnold said to WWL-TV.
Arnold said that Innocence Project investigators found the state withheld evidence to the defense and Moses’ conviction was based on a false testimony. Jurors also discounted witness testimony that Moses wasn’t in town when the shooting happened.
“In this case… the sole eyewitness or a man who claimed to be an eyewitness, both had motivation to lie, and to implicate Mr. Moses over a romantic rivalry, and that this eyewitness actually had pretty severe mental health problems and was committed and underwent a psychiatric evaluation,” Arnold said to WWL-TV.
The 68-year-old father to 18 children, grandfather to 30, and great-grandfather to four is happy to be returning home to see his huge family.
“It’s unbelievable you know from the dungeon to back to life again,” Moses said to WWL-TV. “I really thought I was gonna die in jail.”‘
The Innocence Project New Orleans has now won the the release of 44 innocent people from prison but Moses’ return may be short lived.
He was granted post-conviction relief and the verdict of his initial trial was vacated in late May, but he still is fighting.
“The charges were not dropped by the district attorney’s office. … He’s been granted a new trial. That means he actually he could actually have a new trial,” Arnold said to WWL-TV.
Despite the prospect of being tried on the murder charges again, Moses is looking forward to making up lost time with his family.
“First thing, get to know my babies,” Moses said to WWL-TV. “I gotta get my teeth fixed. I gotta get some new glasses, you know, then sit around and get used to being free.”
