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Assignment: Robert Jones: Free at last?

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Robert Jones: Free at last?

10/12/2015 GMT

BBC World Service - Assignment, Robert Jones: Free at last?

How did Robert Jones spend 23 years in jail for crimes another man had been convicted of?

Aleem Maqbool investigates New Orleans’ justice system to find out how Robert Jones spent 23 years in jail for crimes another man had already been convicted of.

In 1992, Robert Jones was accused of being behind a one-man crime spree of rape, robbery and then the murder of holidaymaker Julie Stott in New Orleans. Despite another man being convicted for the murder and overwhelmingly linked to all the other crimes, Robert Jones was sent to jail too, and remained there for 23 years.

He was released in November 2015.  His original trial judge and police detectives told the BBC’s Aleem Maqbool they believed he didn't commit the murder. Although he still faces a re-trial, the case has been called one of America’s worst racially inspired miscarriages of justice in decades."

In this edition of Assignment, Robert Jones talks about the ‘nightmare’ of those 23 years in prison, and how he now wants accountability for what happened. Aleem Maqbool investigates how he was imprisoned, who’s responsible, and what it tells us about race and justice in Louisiana. And as he discovers, there could be many more cases like Robert Jones in the state with America’s highest incarceration rate. 

Produced by Ashley Semler and James Fletcher

(Photo: Robert Jones out of prison joined by his family for the first time in more than 23 years)

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Robert Jones: Free at last?

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