Posted on 11/06/2014 8:51:45 PM PST by Forgotten Amendments
The Texas Criminal Court of Appeals Wednesday overturned the conviction of a Houston man sentenced to death in the killing of a Houston Police Department officer.
The court ordered a new trial for Alfred Dewayne Brown because of evidence withheld during his trial in 2005.
Prosecutors said Brown and two other men were robbing a check-cashing store when they shot and killed the store clerk, Alfredia Jones, and then Officer Charles Clark, who responded to the scene.
Brown claimed he was innocent and that he had an alibi that could prove it. He said he was at his girlfriend's house and made a call from a land-line phone. But phone records were never produced during the trial or shared with the defense.
The Harris County District Attorney's Office found the phone records during a post-conviction review of the case last year. They were in the garage of a homicide detective.
(Excerpt) Read more at click2houston.com ...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2014/07/17/transcript-reveals-shocking-grand-jury-intimidation-of-witness/
People should go to prison for this. In effect, it's attempted murder.
And of course - the real cop killer got away.
"Protect and serve," huh?
For all those that want to move to Texas!
I would support sentencing those who frame others with the same maximum sentence the framee would face if convicted of the false charges. Which just happens to be the death penalty in this particular case.
And who was he talking to?
It seems that it wouldn't have taken much for the Defense attorney to get phone records.
It is crap like this that forces me to lean heavily against the death penalty.
At least in Texas, exonerated individuals get $80,000 for every year in prison.
Upon further review ... The two pieces I linked to made it sound like they were together at the time of the call. But, you are right. The call was made from her land line to her cell.
Why the defense lawyer didn't cry bloody murder about the phone records? I dunno'. Could be stupid. Could be he didn't want to offend the prosecutor. The fact that it was in the hands of a cop all along is damning. I don't see how this could still be happening in 2005.
Where is the Trayvon Martin/Mike Brown crowd when it comes to cases like this ?
Why the need for the Trayvons and then Browns when you have the resident cop haters to assume the agitation.
Corruption is a horrible thing. To frame a person for a crime he/she didn’t commit really needs to be addressed.
I am very thankful that our system DOES allow for findings such as the one in the OP. In come countries, the execution takes place the day after sentencing, and the family of the convicted one must pay for the bullet.
I don’t like that it can take as long as it does for a sentence to be carried out.
Some people are concerned about a death penalty, and when in doubt (ie jurors) will elect for a life sentence instead. But if you doubt a person’s guilt, a life sentence in prison, isn’t the answer either. It too is unjust when there is reasonable doubt of guilt.
When someone suppresses evidence, that person should be held accountable. Personally accountable, and I don’t mean a $500 fine, either.
When you destroy someone’s name and reputation, you have in effect, killed that person. He/she will always have the stigma and will suffer loss as a result. He can never get his/her good name back.
The detective should get the death penalty. He tried to get someone executed. That should be at least life in prison.
And I would be other cops knew about it. But that thin blue line is never crossed. That’s why I have no respect for cops. They’re all on power trips.
I was watching The First 48 a few years ago about a murder in Memphis. This cop honed in on this kid and was convinced he was the killer. Then evidence exonerated him. The cop kept saying “Man, I was wrong. I’m going to have to be more open minded in the future.” I thought “Yeah, and if the cameras weren’t on your corrupt ass that kid would be on death row by now.”
What a lot of people don’t think about is to the DA and the cops you’re guilty until proven innocent. Most cops don’t look for evidence that points to a suspect. The come up with a suspect then look for evidence to back their “hunch”. I’ll admit they’re more right than wrong but when one innocent person is convicted there’s a problem.
Tonight on the news there was a report about a cop who “had a hunch” and pulled over a car that hand thousands of dollars in cash. This cop is great at “hunches”. Last week he pulled a car over “on a hunch” and the car had twelve grand in it. And we’re supposed to believe the cop knows how to count. Something is fishy.
I’m sorry, but that’s beyond tasteless. A police officer was killed responding to an incident in which a young woman was also killed. I never bought into the treacly hero worship of the police, but the fallen officer deserves our respect.
Right. Nice of his bro’s to let an innocent bro rot in jail with them. At some point, in the last ten years, they could of manned up and said “yo mofo that bro wasn’t helping us rob the doe and shouldn’t be on death row”.. The detective should also have to pay the 80K per year out of his corruption account.
When did they pass a law declaring it illegal to have cash?
Yes I agree. The graphic wasn’t intended for the lost officer, but for his colleagues, who deliberately convicted a man they flat out knew was innocent, who got on the stand and blandly lied by omission and commission to send him to death row, who are guilty of a criminal conspiracy to murder an innocent man under color of authority, not in the heat of passion, not while in fear of their lives, not while under any threat or duress or stress, but simply because it was more convenient to murder him than it would be to find the actual shooter and convict him.
They did it coldly, deliberately, working implacably every day for months. They lied, they intimidated witnesses, they withheld evidence, they colluded with other agencies and they came close to using the full might of the state to put an innocent to death.
And like the graphic says, they’re going to get away with it.
*spit*
Agree. Government officials who "frame" citizens are tyrants.
Sic Semper Tyrannis
Why is being a “cop killer” worse than being a Stay-at-home-mom killer, a teacher killer, an engineer-killer, a woman-killer, a man-killer, a doctor-killer.
Murder is murder-—enough of this peasant-murdering-knight-equals-outrage while knight-murdering-peasant-equals-meh nonsense.
Those who framed that poor soul should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and put on death row themselves.
Our would-be-overlords would be less likely to engage in this behavior if they had immediate criminal consequences for their criminal activity.
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