Man exonerated from murder dies of complications from COVID-19

A man wrongly convicted of murder died of complications from COVID-19 nine years after being released from prison, according to CNN.

On September 2, Damon Thibodeaux died of complications from COVID-19 despite having no history of underlying conditions that could cause more intense cases of COVID-19, according to CNN.

Thibodeaux’s brother David Thibodeaux said he began to experience symptoms of the virus shortly after receiving his second Moderna vaccine.

“As we were talking I was like, ‘Dude, you look like you’re congested,’ and he said he wasn’t feeling well and was exhausted. He thought he had a sinus infection. “, David Thibodeaux mentioned.

Shortly after their phone call, Damon Thibodeaux went to an emergency clinic, where he lost consciousness and fell. David Thibodeaux heard nothing for a few days before receiving a call from his brother, who was hospitalized with pneumonia linked to COVID-19.

“He called me barely able to speak. He spoke three or four words and then had to gasp to breathe,” David Thibodeaux told CNN.

Damon Thibodeaux was put on and off a ventilator and it looked like he was recovering from the coronavirus, but not from pneumonia.

Damon was sentenced to jail for murder in Louisiana in 1997 after making an “apparent confession” to the rape and murder of his 14-year-old step-cousin, according to CNN.

During the time following his conviction, Damon Thibodeaux spent 15 years on death row.

He was exonerated by a court in 2012 after examining DNA and other evidence.

On the day of his death, he told David Thibodeaux, “My brother, I am ready to get out of here and go home. Later that night he died.

Despite being wrongfully incarcerated for years, Damon Thibodeaux has never held a grudge, according to his brother.

“He had no hard feelings and should have been mad at the world, but he wasn’t mad at anyone,” David Thibodeaux told CNN.

David Thibodeaux added: “I have never met someone who has persevered so eloquently.”

“He was enjoying it every moment. He really explored himself and the world around him, and he accomplished a lot in those nine years. He was a remarkable man.”