Damon Thibodeaux, innocent released after 15 years on death row, dies of COVID

A man who has spent a third of his life on death row for a murder he did not commit has been killed by the coronavirus. Damon Thibodeaux, who was 47 when he died, was released from prison in 2012 after DNA evidence helped prove his innocence in the 1996 death of his 14-year-old step-cousin. The state of Louisiana spent 15 years trying to kill him before he was released, but he continued to rebuild his life by working as a long-haul trucker in Minnesota and then Texas. The Star Tribune reported that he was on the road in Florida in August when he was hospitalized with COVID, and that his condition suddenly worsened on September 2, when he lost his life to the virus. Steve Kaplan, a retired Minneapolis lawyer who helped free Thibodeaux, said: “It’s so unfair… I’m having a hard time making my peace with this, but you can’t.” His brother, David Thibodeaux, told the Star Tribune: “He proved to everyone that he was not the monster they pretended to be … I believe Damon is truly at home and has found the peace he could not find in the flesh.”