New Orleans' district attorney has withdrawn a request for his office to have state authority to file for bankruptcy protection.

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro had warned state officials that his office may need to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection because it can't afford to pay a $15 million award to a man who spent 18 years on death row before being exonerated.

But a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office said Friday that Cannizzaro wants to exhaust all appeals options in the civil case rather than pursue the request for authority to file a bankruptcy petition.

A federal appeals court last month upheld the jury award to John Thompson, who was convicted in 1985 of killing hotel executive Raymond Liuzza Jr. Harry Connick was the district attorney when Thompson was convicted of killing Liuzza.