| First Name | Ryan |
| Last Name | Matthews |
| Year of Conviction | 1999 |
| Year of Exoneration | 2004 |
| Testing inculpated culprit | Non-Cold Hit |
| State of Conviction | Louisiana |
| Trial, Bench Trial, or Guilty Plea | Trial |
| Type of Crime | Murder |
| Death Sentence | Yes |
| Gender of Exoneree | Male |
| Race of exoneree | Black |
| Juvenile | Yes |
| Mentally Ill or Intellectually Disabled | Intellectually Disabled |
| Description / Quotes from Testimony Concerning Defense | ● Defendant’s DNA was not on the mask that gunman wore. |
| Did the defendant testify at trial? | No |
| Types of evidence at trial |
|
| Type of Forensic Evidence |
|
| Types of Flawed Forensics |
|
| Brief Quote / Description of Testimony | Testimony by defense analyst only regarding DNA that excluded. |
| Identity of eyewitness |
|
| Multiple eyewitnesses | 2 |
| Lineup Procedures |
|
| Suggestive Procedures | Yes ● Show-up properly conducted immediately following incident ● Eyewitness not told attacker might not be in line-up. |
| Quotes from testimony #1 | “It was more like, ‘We think we got the suspect and the car. Would you identify it?” |
| Unreliable Identification? | Yes ● Discrepancies in description – height ● One witness could not see the face of the gunman, who wore a mask |
| Quotes from testimony #2 | “Q. This person you saw running down the street with the mask on, how tall do you think he was? A. He was approximately 6’0”. Q. Six foot? A. Approximately. I’m not sure. Q. He wouldn’t have been 5’4”, 5’5”, huh? A. I’m actually unsure. It’s been a while. It has been a while.” Second eyewitness also described shooter as six feet tall. |
| Jailhouse informant, Co-defendant, Incentivized Witness | CD |
| Examples of Non-Public or Corroborated Facts and Inconsistencies | For co-defendant Travis Hayes’ reported and false confession (one which contained no nonpublic details) see False Confessions Appendix |
| Highest level reached | NR |