On an August night in 2009, the life of 23-year-old Patrice Danille Comadore, an African American mother and former employee of the New Orleans Sheriff Department, was tragically cut short. Two men, their faces obscured by bandanas, forced their way into her home on Tricou Street in New Orleans. The intruders announced a robbery, demanding money from Patrice, who was in bed.
In the ensuing confrontation, she was fatally shot in the head.
In the immediate aftermath of the violent home invasion, a chaotic scene unfolded. One of the intruders was also shot during the incident. A short distance from the crime scene, police discovered the body of 18-year-old Jessie Bibbins III, who had sustained a fatal gunshot wound to the neck. Ballistics evidence would later confirm that the bullet that killed Bibbins was fired from the same weapon used to murder Patrice Comadore, identifying him as one of the assailants.
The investigation into the second suspect took a turn that would lead to a significant miscarriage of justice. Patrice's younger sister, Darceleen, who was present during the home invasion, identified the other attacker as 18-year-old Kendale Gordon. Gordon was subsequently arrested, and despite his protestations of innocence, he was convicted of second-degree murder in 2012 and sentenced to life in prison.
For years, Kendale Gordon maintained his innocence from behind bars. The key to his eventual freedom lay with the very witness who had put him there. Darceleen Comadore grew to believe she had misidentified Gordon and repeatedly attempted to recant her testimony, but her pleas went unheard for years. Eventually, the Innocence Project New Orleans took up Gordon's case. New evidence, including DNA that pointed to another man, was presented to the District Attorney's office. After serving 12 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, Kendale Gordon was exonerated and released in 2021. His wrongful conviction has been cited as an example of the flaws within the justice system, while the murder of Patrice Danille Comadore officially remains partially unresolved.
