Why was Raymond Flanks in prison? Louisiana man freed as murder conviction is overturned after 39 years

On November 17, 2022, 59-year-old Raymond Flanks finally walked free after his conviction for a 1983 murder. He was tried twice for the killing of Martin Carnesi.

Young Flanks, aged just 20, was convicted of the murder of Martin Carnesi during an armed robbery. After about four decades, attorneys discovered that there had been inconsistencies when the case was decided back in 1985.

Raymond Flanks was tried twice for the crime and was convicted by a jury in 1985. He finally gained freedom after Judge Rhonda Goode-Douglas overturned the 1985 judgment. After coming out of the courthouse, Flanks said:

“Even though it was delayed justice, it was justice."

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Who was Raymond Flanks, and what happened in 1983?

Flanks talking to the reporters after coming out of the courthouse (Image via _ipno_/Twitter)

According to Nola, in 1983, just before Christmas, the Pines Village Area in New Orleans was plagued by a string of robberies targeting elderly women. In all these instances, a black man in a shower cap was identified as the culprit. This series of robberies concluded when Martin Carnesi was shot by the same Black miscreant on December 17, 1983.

Around five days after the incident, police arrested then 20-year-old Raymond Flanks as he fled an armed robbery at a food store. Flanks was accused of being the gunman with a shower cap. The arrest was made based on the testimony of Faye Carnesi, the wife of Martin, who was the only eye witness at the scene.

Raymond Flanks had to face two trials. In 1984, the jury could not reach a verdict even when it was argued that the murder weapon was Flanks’ gun.

However, in 1985, this argument was dismissed after re-examining the murder weapon again at a federal laboratory. The second trial occurred that same year, where Flanks was convicted of first-degree murder and received a life sentence.

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Only eyewitness mistaken, resulting in about 40 years in prison for Raymond Flanks

More than 35 years later, it was finally established that Faye Carnesi was mistaken and had received suggestive help from John Dillmann, the then-NOPD homicide detective. According to the attorneys, he fudged and manipulated Carnesi’s accounts to make Raymond fit the bill.

After several unsuccessful attempts to challenge the judgment, in 2021, the IPNO decided to take Flanks’ case.

The IPNO stated that there have been many cases in New Orleans where black suspects were wrongfully convicted when they had white eyewitnesses. In most of these cases, pieces of evidence were withheld from the suspect’s attorneys. The IPNO argued that something similar happened in Raymond’s case too.

Attorneys from both sides have agreed that Dillmann “altered the age of the perpetrator, age of the perpetrator's car, appearance of the perpetrator's gun, and appearance of the perpetrator's mustache to fit the State's case.”

Furthermore, at the time of the incident, Faye Carnesi had remembered the perpetrator having white patches on his face. It was also asserted that Raymond had no such patches and therefore, did not fit Faye's description.

In an interview, John Dillmann said:

“Everybody from the ’70s on, they’re taking to task. How can they let the guy go without even a hearing or anybody's side of the story? … How can they just say, ‘Well, he’s saying this, she’s dead, and that doesn’t match up with what was said in the grand jury, so we can put the guy out of jail without even asking?”

After overturning the judgement, Judge Rhonda Goode-Douglas mentioned that there would be no other retrial in the case, since the single witness, Faye Carnesi, has passed away. Goode-Douglas further mentioned:

“It is this court's opinion that Mr. Flanks did not receive justice he deserved...It is my hope that this court and section represents what justice should look like.”

Carnesi's family still believes that Raymond Flanks was the actual perpetrator and that Faye could not have been mistaken.