Sullivan Walter, now 53, used a handkerchief to wipe away tears as a state district judge formally vacated his conviction for a home-invasion rape. UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA SULLIVAN WALTER, CIVIL ACTION VERSUS NO. 23-4352 CITY OF NEW ORLEANS, ET AL., SECTION: “E” (2) ORDER AND REASONS Court of Appeal of Louisiana,Fourth Circuit. STATE of Louisiana v. Sullivan WALTER. No. 94-KA-2221. Decided: July 23, 1997 Before LOBRANO, LANDRIEU and MURRAY, JJ. Harry F. Connick, District Attorney of Orleans Parish, Karen Godail Arena, Assistant District Attorney of Orleans Parish, New Orleans,for Appellee. Sherry Watters, Orleans Indigent Defender Program, New Orleans, for Defendant. After spending more than two thirds of his life in prison, Louisiana man Sullivan Walter who was wrongfully convicted of rape has been exonerated 36 years later Judge Walter Burgwyn Jones first heard the case on November 1, 1960. The day before the trial, he attended the town’s Civil War festival and reenacted the swearing-in of Jefferson Davis as president of the Confederacy. At the trial, some spectators wore Confederate uniforms and carried pistols from the ongoing Civil War celebrations. The Petitioner, Sullivan (the “Petitioner”), was charged with first-degree murder during the course of the robbery of a bar. The Petitioner’s alleged accomplice, Michael Hillhouse (“Hillhouse”) testified during trial pursuant to a grant of immunity. Sullivan Walter was wrongfully convicted as a teenager for a New Orleans rape more than 36 years ago. He was finally freed this week after a judge threw out his conviction.