A Louisiana man was lastly launched from jail on Monday after spending 29 years behind bars for a rape he and the sufferer mentioned he didn’t commit.
Patrick Brown was convicted in 1994 on prices of raping his then-6-year-old stepdaughter. On the time, the stepdaughter was pulled off the stand earlier than she may testify that one other member of the family dedicated the rape. Brown subsequently was convicted on what Nola.com describes as rumour testimony and inconclusive proof and sentenced to life with out parole.
The sufferer started to jot down a sequence of greater than 100 handwritten letters in 2002 to the courts and Orleans Parish District Lawyer’s Workplace that requested for the case to be reviewed as a result of Brown wasn’t her attacker. She additionally mentioned that the prosecutors had been conscious that he didn’t rape her and it was one other member of the family.
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“I’ve written over 100 letters … mailed them to the DA’s workplace. I’ve proven up unannounced to speak to somebody and been rotated,” the sufferer advised The Guardian.
Brown and the sufferer’s efforts had been ignored till final 12 months. The civil rights division of the Orleans Parish District Lawyer’s Workplace reopened the case for one more investigation and located that Brown was harmless. Emily Maw, head of the civil rights division, led the efforts to assist get his conviction overturned.
“This can be a case,” Maw wrote within the courtroom submitting, “of lastly listening to a lady who, for over 20 years, has been telling the state that the incorrect man is in jail.”
The civil rights division was reportedly created by Orleans Parish District Lawyer Jason Williams in 2021 to look at previous harms within the legal authorized system. In response to The Guardian, Brown filed a declare of factual innocence underneath a brand new legislation as a professional se software, which implies he had no authorized illustration.
Brown was convicted underneath former Orleans Parish District Lawyer Harry Connick Sr. Orleans Parish reportedly as soon as led the nation with the very best per capita price of wrongful convictions, in line with the College of Michigan’s Nationwide Registry of Exonerations. Final 12 months, Louisiana reportedly exonerated 9 folks, together with eight individuals who was convicted in Orleans Parish.
“They’ve greater than me behind these partitions searching for their reality to return out,” Brown mentioned to Nola.com.
On Monday, Brown went to the identical courtroom he was convicted in 1994 and at last obtained the end result he had been dreaming about. He was exonerated and left the Louisiana courtroom holding his paperwork.
“That is it,” Brown mentioned to Nola.com, clutching a one-page courtroom order. “That is the liberty paper that I’ve been ready for all my life.”
Whereas in courtroom, Brown reunited along with his stepdaughter and apologized.
“I used to be telling her I’m sorry it occurred to her,” he mentioned to Nola.com. “I used to be telling her I failed as a father. I used to be supposed to guard my family, and I didn’t.”
Williams didn’t present particulars on the exonerating proof however advised CBS Information the civil rights division “performed an intensive investigation and the proof corroborated the sufferer’s account, which has remained steadfast for over 20 years.”
The sufferer signed an affidavit in 2015 that named the opposite member of the family who allegedly raped her.
“It’s extremely disheartening to know that this lady was dismissed and ignored, regardless of how inconvenient her reality, when all she wished was the true offender to be held accountable,” Williams mentioned in a press release on Monday. “When somebody is wrongfully convicted, not solely is it an injustice for the one that has years of their life stolen, however it’s an injustice for the sufferer and the folks of New Orleans as a result of the true perpetrator is left to hurt others.”
Brown’s case reportedly is simply the sixteenth time since 1991 {that a} rape conviction was overturned in Louisiana.
“Thanks for listening, lastly,” the survivor mentioned to Nola.com. “Thanks for listening to me. Thanks for serving to me inform the reality. Thanks for serving to our household heal. Thanks for giving me my dad again.”
“I by no means gave up hope. In case you’re incarcerated, you’ll be able to’t hand over hope. In case you hand over hope, you’re useless,” mentioned Brown.
