SULLIVAN WALTER , Plaintiff v. CITY OF NEW ORLEANS , ET AL., Defendants Civil Action No. 23-4352 United States District Court, E.D. Louisiana January 9, 2026 SECTION “E” (2) ORDER AND REASONS SUSIE MORGAN , UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE Before the Court is Defendant , Jason Williams ( “Williams” ) , in his official capacity as Orleans Parish District Attorney ( “OPDA” ) , [ 1 ] who filed a Motion to Dismiss pursuant to Rule 12 (b) (6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure . [ 2 ] Plaintiff , Sullivan Walter , opposes the motion. [ 3 ] Defendant filed a reply. [ 4 ] Plaintiff also filed three notices of supplemental authority, [ 5 ] and Williams filed a response. [ 6 ] This case arises out of the conviction and incarceration of Plaintiff Sullivan Walter . [ 7 ] On May 10, 1986 , L.S. was sexually assaulted in her home. [ 8 ] Immediately after the assault, L.S. called the police and was taken to the hospital, where a resident physician performed an examination and collected several swabs to preserve the evidence in a rape kit. [ 9 ] That night, L.S. provided a description of the perpetrator to the police. [ 10 ] She described the perpetrator “as a Black man who was ‘5'11, slender, 18-20 years old, with thick eyebrows, jerri curl ringlets, [and who was] wearing a backwards baseball hat.' ” [ 11 ] L.S. stated that the man's baseball hat was blue and he wore a face covering during the assault, but that the face covering dropped several times during the assault. [ 12 ] A sketch artist prepared a composite drawing of the perpetrator. [ 13 ] Plaintiff alleges that serological testing “is used to determine whether a person's body secretes ABO blood group antigens into their bodily fluids, such as saliva, sweat, and semen.” [ 14 ] Persons who secrete blood group antigens are known as “secretors,” while those who do not are referred to as “non-secretors.” [ 15 ] A medical technologist at the Orleans Parish Coroner's Office performed serological testing on the vaginal swabs recovered from L.S. [ 16 ] The testing revealed that the seminal fluid came from a perpetrator who was a non-secretor. [ 17 ] Separately, Detective O'Neal, a criminalist in the New Orleans Police Crime Lab at the time, [ 18 ] serologically tested a semen sample retrieved from L.S.'s shorts. [ 19 ] This testing also revealed the perpetrator was a non-secretor. [ 20 ] On June 23, 1986 , Plaintiff -who was 17, of an average build, had cropped natural hair, sparse eyebrows, and was without facial hair at the time-was arrested for an unrelated simple burglary. [ 21 ] Plaintiff was wearing a blue hat when he was arrested. [ 22 ] The police identified him as a potential match to the composite drawing. [ 23 ] On June 26, 1986 , the police presented L.S. with a photo lineup of seven individual photographs, one of which was a photo of Plaintiff wearing a hat. [ 24 ] Plaintiff was the only man in the photo lineup who was wearing a hat. [ 25 ] “L.S. made a cross-racial identification and incorrectly identified Mr Walter as the perpetrator.” [ 26 ] On November 13, 1986 , Plaintiff was charged with two counts of aggravated crimes against nature, one count of aggravated rape, and one count of aggravated burglary. [ 27 ] On December 1, 1986 , he was arraigned and pleaded not guilty. [ 28 ] The next day, December 2, 1986 following a three-hour trial, a twelve-member jury found Plaintiff guilty on all counts. [ 29 ] At the time of the trial, Plaintiff 's status as a “secretor” or “non-secretor” was not known. [ 30 ] Plaintiff underwent serological testing in January 1988 , a little over a year after the trial. [ 31 ] Plaintiff alleges that, when they were preparing his defense, he and his counsel were unaware of the serological testing that had been performed. [ 32 ] Plaintiff alleges that “neither [ he ] nor his attorney received the lab report before the morning of trial. As a result, this evidence was unusable at trial, and Mr. Walter was deprived of an opportunity to obtain and present any evidence regarding his own secretor status or the implication of his secretor status.” [ 33 ] At trial, L.S. testified and identified Plaintiff as the perpetrator. [ 34 ] Detective O'Neal testified that the police serology test of the seminal fluid performed by him revealed the perpetrator was a non-secretor, but he did not explain-and was not asked to explain-the significance of this finding: Plaintiff alleges that O'Neal confirmed the perpetrator was a non-secretor during his cross-examination, testifying: The jury found Plaintiff guilty on all counts. [ 37 ] Plaintiff was sentenced to 35 years in prison. [ 38 ] Plaintiff appealed his conviction, arguing the Orleans Parish District Attorney 's Office ( “OPDA” ) violated his constitutional due process rights and violated its discovery duties when it withheld the serological testing reports until the day of trial. [ 39 ] In October 1987 , the Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal , after finding the OPDA violated its discovery duties, remanded the case to the trial court to allow Plaintiff to present his Brady [ 40 ] claims. [ 41 ] On January 13, 1988 , additional serological testing was conducted, which revealed that Plaintiff was a secretor and secreted Blood Type B antigens. [ 42 ] Plaintiff alleges this testing confirmed that Plaintiff could not have been the perpetrator of the crimes against L.S. [ 43 ] Plaintiff moved for a new trial. [ 44 ] On April 29, 1988 , the criminal district court held an evidentiary hearing on Plaintiff 's motion for a new trial . [ 45 ] Plaintiff alleges the prosecution 's only witness at the hearing was O'Neal. [ 46 ] Plaintiff alleges that Plaintiff alleges the OPDA directed Detective O'Neal to lie about the secretor status testing and its significance and “to fudge” his testimony. [ 48 ] In the alternative, Plaintiff alleges that Detective O'Neal intentionally falsified his testimony on his own, without the prosecutors' knowledge, and concealed from the OPDA the fact that he had given false testimony. [ 49 ] At the hearing on the motion for a new trial , Detective O'Neal testified that the serological testing did not necessarily exclude Mr. Walter as a potential perpetrator. [ 50 ] Detective O'Neal also testified that the serological testing of the rape kit swabs did not conclusively establish whether or not the perpetrator was a secretor. [ 51 ] Plaintiff alleges this testimony was false and directly contradicted Detective O'Neal's testimony at the first trial. [ 52 ] The state district court denied Plaintiff 's motion for a new trial . [ 53 ] Plaintiff alleges that O'Neal's testimony was the “sole basis for the criminal district court to deny [ Plaintiff 's] motion for a new trial ,” as no other witness testified at the hearing. [ 54 ] Plaintiff appealed, and the Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed the denial of the motion for a new trial . [ 55 ] In October 2021 , the Innocence Project New Orleans ( “IPNO” ) took on Plaintiff 's case. [ 56 ] The IPNO contacted the Civil Rights Division of the OPDA , which began conducting its own investigation into Plaintiff 's case. [ 57 ] On August 23, 2022 , attorneys from the OPDA and the IPNO filed a “Joint Agreement and Motion to Vacate ” Plaintiff 's conviction. [ 58 ] At the motion hearing on August 25, 2022 , the OPDA “stated that ‘the serology evidence' disclosed on the morning of Mr. Walter's trial ‘show [ed] that' Mr. Walter ‘did not commit the crime.' ” [ 59 ] After the hearing, a criminal district court judge vacated Plaintiff 's conviction and ordered his release from prison. [ 60 ] Plaintiff filed the instant civil lawsuit, seeking to recover compensatory damages, punitive damages, and an award of costs and attorneys' fees for violations of his civil rights under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1988 , the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution , the Louisiana Constitution , and other Louisiana state law. [ 61 ] Plaintiff sought to hold Williams, the City, and O'Neal liable for violations of his civil rights, which resulted in his wrongful incarceration for over 35 years. [ 62 ] Plaintiff alleges that Defendants violated his Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights by “fabricating evidence; suppressing exculpatory evidence; suborning and committing perjury; and creating and maintaining unlawful policies, customs, and practices that caused the wrongful and unconstitutional acts . . . .” [ 63 ] Title 42 U.S.C. § 1983 provides: This statute provides a remedy against “every person,” who under color of state law, deprives another of any rights ... 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