| First Name | Allen |
| Last Name | Coco |
| Year of Conviction | 1993 |
| Year of Exoneration | 2006 |
| State of Conviction | Louisiana |
| Trial, Bench Trial, or Guilty Plea | Trial |
| Type of Crime | Rape |
| Death Sentence | No |
| Life / LWOP sentence | Life |
| Gender of Exoneree | Male |
| Race of exoneree | Black |
| Juvenile | No |
| Did the defendant testify at trial? | Yes |
| Quotes from Exoneree Testimony | “Q: Sir, what do you know about the attack that was committed on [the victim]? What do you know about that? A: Nothing, really.” |
| Types of evidence at trial |
|
| Type of Forensic Evidence |
|
| Types of Flawed Forensics |
|
| Brief Quote / Description of Testimony | No semen was detected in the rape kit evidence; instead blood stains from the scene were analyzed, and they exhibited the same substances as Coco. |
| Identity of eyewitness |
|
| Lineup Procedures |
|
| Suggestive Procedures | Yes ● Victim not told attacker might not be in line-up |
| Quotes from testimony #1 | Officer recalled “I told her if she happens to spot the subject in question that these were possibilities, to point to the subject and handed her the lineup.” |
| Unreliable Identification? | Yes ● Initially uncertain ● Discrepancies in descriptions, including tattoos, hair, facial hair ● victim also had PTSD, flashbacks |
| Quotes from testimony #2 | “Q: Ma’am, you said that when you picked him out in the lineup, he didn’t look the same or–he didn’t look the same. Is that what you said earlier? A: I said that he was more clean-cut than he looked in the lineup.” |
| Highest level reached | NR |
| Citations to judicial opinions | State v. Coco, 731 So.2d 555 (La. App. 3 Cir. 1998) |