A
t 16, most teenage boys are practicing
for their driving tests, thinking about
high school graduation, dreaming of
the future. In the spring of 1995, all this
was true for Shareef Cousin (pronounced COO-
san, with a New Orleans drawl). Or it was true,
until a wrongful conviction sent him to death row
— the youngest death row prisoner in Louisiana
history and among the youngest in the modern
era.
Shareef had been playing youth league basketball
across town in Tremé when the crime took place.
The game was recorded on video and time-stamped.
He was innocent. But it would take years before
he was exonerated. So he grew up on death row,
One of the few death row exonorees,
Cousin shared his story at Mercer
University this spring.
Shareef Cousin's
A M E R I C A
STORY BY SARAH GERWIG
PHOTOS BY SUSANNAH MADDOX, KATIE POWELL
separated from friends and family.
This past April, Shareef Cousin spoke about this to
a packed, rapt room at Mercer University, describing
what happened in courthouses and prisons decades
ago and how it reverberates today. His talk was
sponsored by the Spencer B. King, Jr. Center for
Southern Studies, which aims to "foster[] critical
discussions about the many meanings of the South."
Cousin is exploring these "many meanings" for
himself, traveling around the country in an RV with
his youngest sons, witnessing America together.
And telling his story.
Cousin shared further reflections in a later
interview with Macon Magazine, edited lightly for
length.
August/September 2026| maconmagazine.com 81
