QUOTE OF THE DAY: "(Former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice) Oliver Diaz discussed his ongoing scrutiny, while serving as a judge, of Hayne’s medical assessments. Diaz cited what he called odd testimony Hayne gave in helping convict 13-year-old Tyler Edmonds of murder. “The testimony … was that Dr. Hayne examined the body of the gunshot victim, and from the body of the victim, he could tell that there were two people holding the gun that shot the dead person,” Diaz said."
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QUOTE TWO OF THE DAY: " Duncan’s innocence is maintained by the family of the deceased, including relatives of Haley’s deceased father, Lloyd Donald “Donnie” Oliveaux, and Allison Layton Statham. Haley’s paternal aunt, Jennifer Berry, her uncle Joshua Berry and cousin Jacob Hamm wrote to Gov. Landry, Attorney General Liz Murrill and Ouachita Parish District Attorney Robert S. Tew asking for accountability. “The criminals that were hired to perform the autopsy, abused and desecrated her little body to manipulate the jury into handing down first-degree murder charges,” Jennifer Berry wrote in the letter to Landry. “In closing, you say you do justice for families. Mr. Landry, I am demanding justice for Jimmie Duncan.”
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QUOTE THREE OF THE DAY: "Duncan said others might suffer the same fate if his sentence is not permanently vacated. “There'll be another person like me who may or may not live to remind us,” Duncan said."
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Hayne’s previous testimony also played a role in the wrongful convictions of Levon Brooks, Kennedy Brewer and Tyler Edmonds. West provided bite-mark identification in both Brooks’ and Brewer’s cases. Five separate medical experts testified in Duncan’s evidentiary hearing and concluded that bite-mark identification is subjective and no longer scientifically defensible. Another expert concluded that Hayne, who was not a board-certified pathologist, conducted a “sloppy” and “inadequate” autopsy. Dr. Judy Melinek, a board-certified forensic pathologist, offered convincing testimony that Haley’s death should have been classified as an accidental drowning rather than a homicide. Legge’s film continually questions who the true villain is. In a question-and-answer session following the screening, Legge, Duncan, investigative journalist Jerry Mitchell, former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz and Mississippi criminal defense lawyer Graham Carner discussed the consequences of what experts call “junk science.”
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PHOTO CAPTION: "From left: Graham Carner, Jerry Mitchell, Catherine Legge, Jimmie “Chris” Duncan, and Oliver Diaz discuss the consequences of what experts call “junk science” in a question-and-answer session following the screening."
STORY: "Documentary exposes junk science that sent man to death row," by Reporter Izzy Wollfarth and the LSU Manship School News Service," published by 00000, on April 17, 2026.
BATON ROUGE – In 1998, Jimmie “Chris” Duncan was convicted of first-degree murder in the bathtub drowning of 23-month-old Haley Oliveaux and sent to death row at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.
Twenty-seven years later, in April 2025, a judge vacated Duncan’s conviction and ordered his release from Angola, saying he was “factually innocent,” and the victim of egregiously flawed testimony provided by a disgraced Mississippi medical examiner who was terminated from his position and barred from performing other procedures.
Duncan’s story, which has yet another twist and turn, is the subject of Catherine Legge’s new documentary, “The Murder that Never Happened.”
On April 28,Jimmy Duncan will go before the Louisiana Supreme Court, which will hear an appeal by Louisiana prosecutors that the judge’s ruling releasing him was incorrect and that Duncan should return to death row.
Legge, an award-winning filmmaker and journalist, captures the fallout of flawed forensic pathology following Haley’s bathtub drowning in West Monroe. The film had its first private screening at the Manship Theatre in Baton Rouge last Sunday.
On Dec. 18, 1993, Duncan was babysitting his live-in girlfriend’s daughter, Haley, at their home. Duncan told authorities he left Haley in the bath while he was washing dishes, on the other side of the wall. The tub had under four inches of water, enough to cover Haley’s toys.
Soon after, Duncan said he heard a loud noise and found Haley face down in the water. She was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
Haley’s mother, Allison Layton Statham, said in the film that Duncan’s eyes were “so full of tears they looked like mirrors.” Duncan recounted his agony and his feeling of failure.
Duncan was originally charged with negligent homicide, but Dr. Steven Hayne, a medical pathologist who oversaw most autopsies in Mississippi and some autopsies in a few Louisiana parishes, claimed there was evidence of sexual assault, bite marks and forced drowning.
The state upgraded the charges against Duncan to first-degree murder, which carries the potential for the death penalty.
In 2024, before Duncan’s conviction was overturned, Gov. Jeff Landry, following a 15-year hiatus, moved to resume executions in Louisiana by nitrogen gas.
“The time for broken promises has ended,” Landry said in a press release. “We will carry out these sentences, and justice will be dispensed.”
On, March 18, 2025, Jessie Hoffman Jr., an inmate at Angola, was the first to be executed by nitrogen gas in Louisiana.
Meanwhile, Duncan awaited the status of his legal claim of factual innocence and hoped he would not be executed.
Following a six-day evidentiary hearing in 2024, District Judge Alvin R. Sharp, who oversees Ouachita and Morehouse parishes, found Duncan “factually innocent.”
Evidence showed that the original trial neglected to consider Haley’s previous medical records indicating that she had suffered from seizures and had been admitted to the hospital three weeks before her death following an accident at home.
The testimonies of Michael West, a Mississippi forensic odontologist, and Hayne, which bolstered the prosecution’s case against Duncan, were also put under a microscope.
The documentary references a particularly disturbing video that, although filmed in 1993, was uncovered more than a decade later.
The video initially shows West examining Haley’s body and pointing out that her bruises were old and that she had a diaper rash.
There were no visible marks on her cheek, and West did not mention one in the video.
Later in the same video, West is seen jamming a mold of Duncan’s teeth 17 times into Haley’s corpse.
Following Duncan’s hearing, Judge Sharp sealed the video, but Haley’s family has urged for it to be released, believing the film offers proof of Duncan’s innocence.
For 20 years, Hayne was paid to perform 80% of Mississippi’s autopsies – amounting to 1,200 to 1,800 cases a year. This surpasses the yearly limit of 250 recommended by the National Association of Medical Examiner.
Hayne’s previous testimony also played a role in the wrongful convictions of Levon Brooks, Kennedy Brewer and Tyler Edmonds. West provided bite-mark identification in both Brooks’ and Brewer’s cases.
Five separate medical experts testified in Duncan’s evidentiary hearing and concluded that bite-mark identification is subjective and no longer scientifically defensible. Another expert concluded that Hayne, who was not a board-certified pathologist, conducted a “sloppy” and “inadequate” autopsy.
Dr. Judy Melinek, a board-certified forensic pathologist, offered convincing testimony that Haley’s death should have been classified as an accidental drowning rather than a homicide.
Legge’s film continually questions who the true villain is.
In a question-and-answer session following the screening, Legge, Duncan, investigative journalist Jerry Mitchell, former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz and Mississippi criminal defense lawyer Graham Carner discussed the consequences of what experts call “junk science.”
Diaz discussed his ongoing scrutiny, while serving as a judge, of Hayne’s medical assessments. Diaz cited what he called odd testimony Hayne gave in helping convict 13-year-old Tyler Edmonds of murder.
“The testimony … was that Dr. Hayne examined the body of the gunshot victim, and from the body of the victim, he could tell that there were two people holding the gun that shot the dead person,” Diaz said.
Duncan’s innocence is maintained by the family of the deceased, including relatives of Haley’s deceased father, Lloyd Donald “Donnie” Oliveaux, and Allison Layton Statham.
Haley’s paternal aunt, Jennifer Berry, her uncle Joshua Berry and cousin Jacob Hamm wrote to Gov. Landry, Attorney General Liz Murrill and Ouachita Parish District Attorney Robert S. Tew asking for accountability.
“The criminals that were hired to perform the autopsy, abused and desecrated her little body to manipulate the jury into handing down first-degree murder charges,” Jennifer Berry wrote in the letter to Landry. “In closing, you say you do justice for families. Mr. Landry, I am demanding justice for Jimmie Duncan.”
They have yet to receive a response.
“This is a state where the governor and the attorney general ran on the platform of accountability for everyone and justice for everyone, and they (Haley’s family) have not even had a reply,” Legge said.
Legge invited elected officials and media representatives to the screening, but no one showed.
“The system allows for abuse so long as the citizens aren’t paying attention,” Duncan said.
Oliver Diaz and Graham Carner, the judge and the attorney featured in the documentary, emphasized the stain that flawed medical examinations legacy have left on the justice systems of Mississippi and Louisiana.
“One instance of an expert witness doing what Michael West did on video should be enough to call for a widespread, system-wide investigation, and the state of Mississippi has refused to do it,” Carner said.
Diaz said he has called for a complete review of all Hayne’s cases in Mississippi, but nothing has been done.
Duncan said others might suffer the same fate if his sentence is not permanently vacated.
“There'll be another person like me who may or may not live to remind us,” Duncan said.""
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.stmarynow.com/state/documentary-exposes-junk-science-sent-man-death-row#google_vignette
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."Lawyer Radha Natarajan: Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
