Princess Royale Innocence
Innocence (nicknamed “Inn”) grew up at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. When her owner, Malcolm Alexander, was exonerated on January 30, 2018 for a crime he did not commit, his greatest concern was getting Inn, who he had raised since she was a puppy, home. Innocence Project New Orleans was privileged to serve as local counsel with the Innocence Project to bring Mr. Alexander home after almost 38 years of wrongful imprisonment.
Malcolm was arrested in 1980 for a 1979 rape in which the only evidence against him was the eyewitness identification of the victim, who was attacked from behind and whose identification four months after the crime the police twice labeled as "tentative." The jury never heard this and Malcolm's trial lawyer didn't bother to give an opening statement, closing argument, or present any witnesses in his defense.
In 2017, results of DNA testing excluded him as the donor of the pubic hairs that all the evidence suggests the perpetrator left in the bathroom where the victim was attacked. Accordingly, in Jefferson Parish, Judge June Berry Darensburg ordered his conviction vacated and his immediate release from custody. Malcolm walked into the arms of his waiting family two hours later. The following day, his lawyers drove to Angola and returned Inn to his happy owner. At the time Malcolm said to Inn, “I told you we’re gonna be free.”
Inn loves to eat chicken bones, swim, and go on walks with Malcolm all over New Orleans.