[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----LOUISIANA

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 4


LOUISIANA:

Former death row inmate pleads guilty to fraud


A former Louisiana death row inmate who became a cause celebre for the
nation's anti-capital punishment movement is now headed to prison for
fraud.

Shareef Cousin, 29, once sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of a man
outside the Port of Call restaurant in New Orleans, pleaded guilty
Thursday to charges of identity and credit card fraud in Atlanta. A Fulton
County judge sentenced him to 10 years in prison and he is expected to
serve three, prosecutors said in a statement.

Cousin, who in 1996 became the nation's youngest death row convict in a
case where prosecutors hid evidence from the defense, had been working for
as a legal clerk at the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta for
the past 2 years.

He admitted Thursday in Fulton County Superior Court to applying for
credit cards by using the name and identify of his boss, Stephen Bright.

Cousin has been on parole in Louisiana since 2005 for armed robbery
charges that he pleaded guilty to before a jury in 1996 convicted him for
capital murder of Michael Gerardi, 25, of Slidell, and could face up to an
additional 7 years.

Cousin, who was living in Stone Mountain, Ga., admitted in court that he
used his boss's Social Security number, birth date and name to obtain
credit cards and used them for a $42,000 spending spree on audio equipment
and a paint job for his car.

Cousin, who was arrested for the identity fraud June 13, also forged his
boss's name on credit card "convenience" checks, Fulton County prosecutors
said.

An Orleans Parish jury sent Cousin to death row after a trial based on
eyewitness testimony, but the conviction was overturned by the Louisiana
Supreme Court in 1998, when the court found that prosecutors unfairly used
hearsay evidence in closing arguments.

Former District Attorney Harry Connick decided not to re-try Cousin, who
remained in prison until 2005 on a 20-year sentence for armed robberies
that he pleaded guilty to before the murder trial.

Also in 2005, the state Supreme Court suspended prosecutor Roger Jordan,
one of Connick's top assistants, for keeping from the defense team an
eyewitness statement that was "obviously exculpatory" and "clearly should
have been produced to the defense."

(source: Times-Picayune)