Douglas DiLosa

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In 1986, Douglas DiLosa was found by police in his home, bound with the same rope that had earlier been used to strangle his wife, Glinda DiLosa.

Mr. DiLosa told the police that early in the morning he was woken up by noises coming from downstairs. When he went to investigate, he was attacked by two black men. When he later regained consciousness, he called for his wife and then his son. His seven year old son came downstairs and found him and, at his father’s  instructions, called the police.

Despite the facts that the house had been ransacked and a window pane in the living room had been taped over with duct tape and removed with a glass cutter, Jefferson Parish investigators did not believe Mr. DiLosa and charged him with murdering his wife.

The State’s case relied exclusively on circumstantial evidence and inferred a motive from the poor financial situation of the DiLosas and the value of Mrs. DiLosa’s life insurance policy.

The State based its case on the non-existence of evidence it knew existed. The State knew of unknown hair samples found at the scene. Yet, the prosecution at Mr. DiLosa’s trial emphasized a lack of any physical evidence of a black intruder in the DiLosa household. In closing argument, the prosecution noted, “There was not one, not one shred of black hair found in that residence.”

Mr. DiLosa was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to life in prison in 1987. Five years later, while still in prison, he filed a public records act request and discovered a 150-page police report that had been withheld from him and his lawyers at trial.

The report included several pieces of physical evidence that gave veracity to Mr. DiLosa's claims. For example, police had found pry-marks on the windows of the DiLosa’s condo, fingerprints not belonging to any family members were found all over the crime scene, and several hairs from an African-American were found, including one that was on the rope used to strangle Mrs. DiLosa. The report also included the fact that police had investigated another attempted break-in at a nearby condominium, and received an account from a cab driver who saw two black males leaving the DiLosa’s condo complex in the early hours of the morning in which the murder was committed.

Through State court, Doug struggled in vain to have his case heard. However, with the help of attorney Mike Fawer, a federal court threw out Mr. DiLosa's conviction in 2001 and he was finally exonerated in 2003.