A Louisville man whose 2010 arson conviction was thrown out by a judge last year because jurors never heard that investigators gave him alcohol on the day he confessed has filed a federal lawsuit against the city and several of the investigators involved.
Last March, Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Olu Stevens vacated U.B. Thomas' conviction and 20-year-prison sentence, ruling jurors in the 2010 trial should have been told that Thomas was provided beer by Louisville arson investigators, calling it a "significant development which creates a wide range of inferences about the circumstances" of the confession.
Thomas was released from prison after serving about eight years, but prosecutors plan to take his case to trial again.