Chris, I am so proud of the work you and your team did on behalf of Mr. Ballard! He was most fortunate to have you all as advocates. Congratulations!!!!
Last Wednesday was the best day of my legal career! Previously, I posted about a case we tried in Louisiana for post exoneration relief for our client Jarvis Ballard. We received the fantastic news that we won. Following our petition and a trial, Judge Kim Cooper Jones of the Thirty-Fourth Judicial District Court in Louisiana determined that Mr. Ballard is entitled to $480,000 in compensation under Louisiana’s wrongful conviction compensation statute. Significant praise goes to Perkins Coie lawyer Teeanna Brisco, J.D. for her hard work leading our team. Taylor Delrie Waxley at Forman Watkins served as a great local counsel. The judge accepted almost every argument made by the team. But perhaps more poignantly, the work in the case spurred the judge to present this sobering view of our justice system and Mr. Ballard’s plight: Mistakes happen. Mistakes happen by lawyers. Mistakes happen by witnesses. Mistakes happen by Courts. Mistakes happen by other legal actors within our system of justice. The injustice would be for a system which did not and/or does not recognize that people, no matter how passionate-are imperfect and make mistakes. Legal errors occurred in this case which deprived Jarvis Ballard in excess of twenty-three years of freedom and opportunity. He began the hearing before this Court on April 22, 2024 actually innocent. He has now come before this Court and established his claim of factual innocence. While we might not agree that the actions and intentions here were merely mistakes, we take extreme pride in helping to correct this one.
