An ex-convict's two-year quest to exonerate himself in a 25-year-old New Orleans rape case seems to have backfired. Karis Scott, 45, was arrested Wednesday morning by federal marshals at his home in Houma and taken to Orleans Parish on a warrant for perjury.
Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's office plans to file a bill of information against Scott on Thursday morning, accusing him of lying under oath nine times as he argued his innocence during an interview with prosecutors a few months ago.
Scott pleaded guilty to accessory and conspiracy charges in 1987 and served a 10-year prison sentence, accused of setting up a robbery that turned into rape.
A seafood restaurant manager said she was gagged and tied to a pole by two men and sexually assaulted by one of them, Booker Diggins, in a storage room at the Riverwalk mall.
Scott, who had worked at the restaurant, was accused of helping Diggins and Charles Washington, who is serving more than 50 years for his role in the attack, sneak into the storage room and surprise the woman.
Scott said he was railroaded into his guilty plea, which has hampered his ability to get before a judge.He has persistently scrambled for a new day in court, armed with mounds of trial transcripts, police reports and other documents that he claims damned the case against him and were wrongly withheld by prosecutors.
He has pleaded in vain with several local lawyers to take on his case, buoyed by what appeared to be a successful bid by the New York-based Innocence Project to free Diggins after 25 years of a life prison sentence.
Cannizzaro's office agreed in May to yank Diggins' conviction and have him plead guilty to lesser crimes and leave prison, based on a blood exam report from the rape that didn't match Diggins' blood type.
Criminal District Judge Frank Marullo rejected the deal, however, and instead ordered a new trial for Diggins.
But a few weeks later, the physical evidence -- a rape exam kit thought to be destroyed in the courthouse flooding that followed Hurricane Katrina -- turned up in a remote corner of an attic evidence room in the courthouse at Tulane and Broad.
It matched Diggins' DNA beyond doubt, according to a report by experts hired by the Innocence Project. Last month, the Innocence Project conceded that the test was conclusive and pulled out of the case.
That move left Scott holding the bag on his innocence claims under oath. Prosecutors said Scott's statements conflicted with the evidence in the case on nine separate occasions.
Each count carries a maximum five-year prison term if Scott is convicted.
"Scott gave a statement under oath in which he denied any involvement in the crime," said Christopher Bowman, a spokesman for Cannizzaro's office. "It's clear now that Diggins was trying to corrupt the system. Scott is another example of a guilty party attempting to corrupt the system, probably in a half-cocked attempt for financial gain."
Scott's wife said marshals awoke him about 7 a.m. and took him away in handcuffs. He appeared in magistrate court Wednesday night, where Commissioner Robert Blackburn set bond at $50,000 and appointed Scott a public defender.
Marullo has set a Nov. 15 court date for a hearing to reconsider his decision to grant Diggins a new trial.
Source: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/10/orleans_parish_da_to_file_char.html
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