Inside the Division: how a small team of US prosecutors fight decades of shocking injustice

In June of last year, assistant district attorney Bidish Sarma sat before a pile of paperwork, more than 1,500 disorganized pages tall, rummaging for answers.

The name Kuantay Reeder had not been mentioned in public discourse since July 1995. Then, buried in the back of the Times-Picayune, a short article recorded that the 21-year-old had been found guilty of murdering a man named Mark Broxton outside a corner store. The last sentence noted that the prosecution had largely relied on the testimony of a single eyewitness.

Realistically, there was little legal hope left.

He called his boss, the chief of the Orleans parish civil rights division, Emily Maw.

Few insiders gave Williams much of a chance. He had already lost in a landslide for the same job back in 2008, and only had two endorsements from elected officials this time around. He also ran for election under a federal indictment for alleged tax fraud (that he maintains is politically motivated), which many viewed as the end of his political career.

Although operating in a politically antagonistic climate exacerbated further by a new crime surge, the division has intervened in more than 150 old cases, leading to immediate release from prison in 128 instances since its creation. It has done so through a range of detailed investigations leading to resentencings, new plea deals and exonerations, making it perhaps the most active conviction review program anywhere in the US.

It was about 6.50pm.