Louisiana
Louisiana prison
Leslie Harris has missed most milestones in his daughter’s life while serving a decades-long sentence in Louisiana for armed robbery and is unlikely to get out before her prom, her graduation and maybe even her wedding.
But for one night at Louisiana’s largest maximum-security prison, Harris made his own moment with his 17-year-old daughter while donning a custom tux and clutching a bouquet of roses: reuniting at the prison’s first father-daughter dance, where they embraced to Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely” at a pink-heavy party this month that was widely shared on social media.
“Seeing her in a dress, crying and running to me just broke me down,” said Harris, who has nine years left on his sentence, in a phone interview from the Louisiana State Penitentiary. “It made me think of all the years I missed out on in her life.”
The lockup is the latest in the U.S. to hold a daddy-daughter dance, including one in Washington D.C. that was featured in the Netflix documentary “Daughters” last year. In Louisiana, prison officials say the dance could become another tradition at the rural lockup in Angola, which every October hosts the country’s last remaining prison rodeo. It has more than 6,300 prisoners, including dozens of people on death row, and is on the same grounds where a notorious lockup was converted into an immigration detention facility in September.
Assistant Warden Anne-Marie Easley said she hoped the dance would bring a sense of hope that can be elusive in a prison where many are serving decades-long or life sentences. For some men, it was a chance to reunite with their daughters for the first time in months or even years – an opportunity to rebuild relationships and heal wounds. For others, it meant a night where they wouldn’t be seen as an inmate but rather a dad.
The prison picked nearly 30 inmates to participate due to good behavior, among other factors. Videos posted from the event showed fathers in tuxedos – complete with pink boutonnieres – breaking down in tears as their daughters ran up to them in sparkly dresses, shrieking with excitement. They reunited in the middle of a pink carpet overlayed with petals, with breezy drapes hanging overhead. A dance space was setup in the prison’s Bible college.
The dance was put on by God Behind Bars, which hosts other reunification events and religious services in prisons nationwide. In videos the group posted before the dance, some prisoners said they wanted to apologize for all the years they missed. Others called the dance the most important prison visit of their lives.
The night included the men surprising their daughters with a line dance after weeks of practice. For Harris, the best part was when he and his daughter slow danced to ‘Butterfly Kisses,’ a song about a dad’s unconditional love for his daughter.
In that moment, Harris said memories rushed back of life before prison, when his daughter was just 2 years old. How she would sleep on his chest, play with his hair and how he would buy her little dresses. Before the night was over, he gave her a Bible with passages he highlighted.
“That’s really the heart of it at the end of the day,” said Jake Bodine, founder of God Behind Bars. “Show these individuals who is counting on them and once they realize the weight of that, they will hold themselves accountable for change.”
Louisiana
Rod Walker: Saints’ loss to Dolphins just one chapter in a crazy day for Louisiana football
The last day of November will be one to remember for sports fans in Louisiana.
Here’s what all happened on a crazy Sunday that made for a busy day for the folks tasked with putting this newspaper together.
• The New Orleans Saints found their offense in the second half and almost climbed out of a 16-point hole against the Miami Dolphins.
• Cam Jordan found the fountain of youth yet again.
• Kellen Moore found out that receiver Devaughn Vele is indeed on the Saints’ roster.
• LSU found its head coach.
• Tulane found out that it is now in the market for one.
• Oh, and a guy from Northern Ireland (Charlie Smyth) booted a 56-yard field goal on his very first field goal attempt in an NFL game.
Smyth followed that up with a successful onside kick that gave the Saints a chance late in what ended up being a 21-17 loss to the Dolphins. History was on Smyth’s side on the onside kick. The last time the Saints tried one at Hard Rock Stadium was Thomas Morstead’s “Ambush” to start the second half of Super Bowl XLIV in 2010. Smyth’s kick landed right in the arms of Vele, much the same way that many of Tyler Shough’s passes did.
Vele, acquired in a trade with the Denver Broncos in August because the Saints needed a big-bodied receiver, had rarely been used. He had nine catches before Sunday. He almost equaled that in one game, hauling in eight passes for 93 yards and a touchdown. The Saints, unfortunately, weren’t able to move the ball much on their final drive that stalled on a failed fourth-and-1 attempt at the Dolphins’ 36-yard line.
“It was an unfortunate ending,” Moore said afterward.
He certainly wasn’t the only one talking about unfortunate endings. Fans of Ole Miss football were no doubt saying the same thing (except with a whole lot more curse words included) as Lane Kiffin made it official that he was leaving Oxford and heading to Baton Rouge to be LSU’s next football coach. Kiffin was hoping to stick around and coach the Rebels in the College Football Playoff but said Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter denied that request.
Meanwhile, Tulane coach Jon Sumrall made it official Sunday that he has accepted the Florida job. Sumrall could have been in a Kiffin-like situation with Tulane headed to the playoffs if they beat North Texas for the American Conference championship Saturday at Yulman Stadium. But the Green Wave administration has decided to let Sumrall stick around and coach Saturday’s game and continue to the playoffs if the Wave advances.
Fan bases at both Ole Miss and Tulane are split on whether their now exes should be allowed to stick around after the divorces.
“We just believe that it’s the right thing to do for our student-athletes,” Tulane athletic director David Harris said in a statement. “We are just really appreciative that he has the love and concern for his players first and foremost in his mind, that he wants to help them finish the right way.”
After that, Sumrall will head to Florida, about five hours north of where the Saints (2-10) were handed yet another loss Sunday.
The Saints’ offense struggled early, gaining just 63 yards in the first half that ended with them trailing 16-0. A bright spot was the 36-year-old Cam Jordan sacking Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa twice. Jordan now has 6½ sacks, the most he’s had since 2022.
He’d much rather have those sacks come with some wins.
“We are a team that keeps fighting,” Jordan said. “When you are fighting an uphill battle, eventually you have to reach the top of the hill. We are taking shots and we are swinging, and you just wish they would fall in our favor.”
The only thing falling in the Saints’ favor is their chances of landing the No. 1 draft pick. With the New York Jets upsetting the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, the Saints currently hold the No. 2 draft pick.
The Saints return to Florida next week to play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bucs have won the last three games against the Saints and are looking to make it four straight for the first time in series history.
A Saints’ upset of the Bucs sounds crazy.
Not quite as crazy as this last Sunday in November was, though.
A Louisiana man who spent 27 years on death row was released on bail after his murder conviction was overturned earlier this year in the 1993 death of his girlfriend’s toddler, his lawyers said.
The release Wednesday of Jimmie Duncan, 57, marked a “significant step forward in his long fight for justice,” one of his attorneys, Chris Fabricant, said in a statement.
Fabricant noted the role of what he called “fraudulent forensics” in Duncan’s conviction and described his incarceration as “a gross miscarriage of justice.”
“His execution would have been a moral outrage,” Fabricant added.
Duncan, who was convicted of first-degree murder in 1998 and had been incarcerated at Angola state prison, was released on $150,000 bond, The Associated Press reported.
The Innocence Project, whose attorneys have represented Duncan, said in a news release that 4th Judicial District Judge Alvin Sharp’s ruling finding Duncan “factually innocent” of the murder was appealed to the state’s high court and is set for oral arguments early next year.
The district attorney’s office that prosecuted Duncan could not be reached for comment Friday. In a statement cited by NBC affiliate KTVE of West Monroe, Louisiana, 4th District Attorney Steve Tew said his office is preparing to challenge the ruling.
Twenty three-month-old Haley Oliveaux died on Dec. 18, 1993, after Duncan briefly stepped away from the bathtub, according to the Innocence Project. When Duncan found her unconscious, he tried to perform CPR and sought help from neighbors who called 911.
She died shortly afterward at a hospital.
Duncan was convicted of the killing in part through forensic evidence. Experts for the prosecution linked what they described as bite marks found on the girl’s body to Duncan’s teeth, according to the Innocence Project.
In an April ruling, Sharp cited an expert for Duncan who rejected that conclusion and described bite mark analysis as “junk science” that is “not scientifically defensible.” Two experts who testified for Duncan said the toddler appeared to have died by accidental drowning and not homicide, according to the ruling.
The ruling from Sharp also found that Duncan’s trial attorney provided ineffective assistance of counsel.
According to the Innocence Project, at least 39 wrongful convictions and indictments across the United States have been attributed to the forensic techniques used in Duncan’s case. The group said that of the nearly 3,800 cases that have been documented by the National Registry of Exonerations since 1989, false or misleading forensic evidence has played a role in a quarter of them.
CT Lottery Lucky For Life, Cash 5 winning numbers for Nov. 30, 2025
Delaware Lottery Play 3 Day, Play 3 Night winning numbers for Nov. 30, 2025
Florida hires Tulane’s Jon Sumrall as football coach with six-year, $44.7 million deal
Georgia 400 lane closures begin Monday night
Minneapolis CEO accused of embezzling $200K for personal expenses — including first-class trip to Hawaii
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Video: ‘It Didn’t Have to Happen This Way:’ U.Va. Faculty Call for Review of Police Response to Protests
Trump makes 11th-hour plea for Matt Van Epps over Aftyn Behn, whom he claims ‘hates Christianity’
US and Ukraine talks begin as Trump pushes to bring war to an end
Venezuela calls Trump’s call to close airspace a ‘colonialist threat’
Rep Troy Nehls, a Trump ally, will not seek re-election as twin brother announces campaign to replace him
EU weighs Plan B for Ukraine as Belgium raises bar on reparations loan
-
Science1 week agoWashington state resident dies of new H5N5 form of bird flu
-
Business6 days agoStruggling Six Flags names new CEO. What does that mean for Knott’s and Magic Mountain?
-
Politics3 days agoRep. Swalwell’s suit alleges abuse of power, adds to scrutiny of Trump official’s mortgage probes
-
Ohio5 days agoSnow set to surge across Northeast Ohio, threatening Thanksgiving travel
-
Southeast1 week agoAlabama teacher arrested, fired after alleged beating of son captured on camera
-
Technology4 days agoNew scam sends fake Microsoft 365 login pages
-
News4 days ago2 National Guard members wounded in ‘targeted’ attack in D.C., authorities say
-
World4 days agoTrump yanks G20 invitation from South Africa over false genocide claims