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New York exoneree Roy Brown gets liver transplant
Posted: May 16, 2007
Roy Brown was freed from a New York prison earlier this year after DNA testing proved that he did not commit the murder for which he was convicted in 1992. He had served 15 years in prison and he was suffering from cirrhosis of the liver when released. On Sunday night, he got a new liver.
Though relatively active since his release in January - he was camping at a favorite childhood spot when he got the call about the transplant - the condition is considered life-threatening. He recently had emergency room trips to the hospital, fluid accumulate in his body and he tires easily, (his attorney Katy Karlovitz) said. His liver could have shut down at any time, she said.Read more about Roy Brown’s case and his exoneration.
The transplant procedure that began Sunday night and concluded early Monday went smoothly.
Brown was sitting up and expected to be moved out of the intensive care unit by Monday evening, his daughter said. Brown will be in the hospital for another two to four weeks, Karlovitz said.
“I'm just glad it's done and over with,” (his daughter) April Brown said.
Read the full story here. (Auburn Citizen, 5/15/07)
Many of the Innocence Project’s clients face serious financial hardships after they are exonerated. You can help by donating to the Innocence Project Exoneree Fund, which provides direct assistance to exonerees. Click here to donate now.
Tags: Roy Brown
New York man marks first year of freedom
Posted: March 5, 2008 1:58 pm
Today marks the one-year anniversary of Roy Brown’s exoneration in upstate New York, after he served 15 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit. While seeking to overturn his own case from his prison cell, Brown obtained police documents identifying a man named Barry Bench as an alternate suspect. He learned more about Bench and began to suspect that he was the killer. Around Christmas in 2003, Brown wrote to Bench, asking him to come clean and help Brown clear his name. Days later, Bench committed suicide.
In 2005, the Innocence Project began working on Brown’s case. A year later, DNA evidence proved that Bench’s saliva was on the victim’s shirt where she had been bitten during the attack. No evidence connected Brown to the murder. He was released in late 2006 and officially exonerated on March 5, 2007. Since his release, he has been an outspoken advocate for criminal justice reform.
Read more about his case here.
Other anniversaries this week:
Saturday: Richard Johnson, Illinois (Served 4 years, exonerated 3/8/1996)
Anthony Powell, Massachusetts (Served 12 years, exonerated 3/8/2004)
Tags: New York, Roy Brown
New York exoneree: "making sure this doesn't happen to anyone else"
Posted: May 2, 2008 2:29 pm
Innocence Project client Roy Brown spent 15 years in New York prison before DNA testing proved his innocence. Yesterday he shared his story with a group of New York high school students, telling them about how he identified the real perpetrator from his prison cell by poring over legal documents.
"When they gave me 25 to life, that's 25 to death, because I'm never going to confess to something that I had nothing to do with," Brown said. "You know, I know that in 25 years, if I live that long, if I make it to parole, I'm not going to go in there and say I'm sorry for something I didn't do."Read more about Roy Brown’s case here.
Read more and here. (Utica Observer-Dispatch, 05/01/08)
Want to host an exoneree speaker in your school or community? Click here to get started.
Tags: Roy Brown
DNA tests lead to new trial for NY man
Posted: June 20, 2008 3:10 pm
A New York judge threw out the 1995 murder conviction of Sammy Swift yesterday based on DNA results showing that blood from the crime scene did not come from Swift. At Swift’s trial, prosecutors pointed repeatedly to blood-type tests that included Swift – and a huge percentage of the population – among the people who could have potentially contributed blood found at the scene. Traditional ABO blood tests were a predecessor of DNA testing in courtrooms across the country, and this limited science played a part in dozens of wrongful convictions later overturned by DNA testing. Blood found at the victim’s house in Swift’s case could have come from someone with type-A blood or type-O blood. More than 60 percent of Americans have one of these blood types, but prosecutors pointed to the test results as evidence confirming Swift’s guilt.
Now DNA testing on the same evidence has shown that the blood at the scene did not come from Swift. Cayuga County Judge Thomas Leone announced his ruling yesterday, saying there was “a reasonable probability the verdict would have been more favorable to the defendant” had jurors known the DNA results. Swift now faces the prospect of a new trial if prosecutors decide to pursue it.
This is the second Cayuga County conviction overturned by DNA testing in 18 months. Innocence Project client Roy Brown was exonerated in 2007 after DNA tests proved his innocence of the murder for which he was in prison.
Roy Brown said he and Swift knew each other - they were both at Elmira Correctional Facility at the same time - and he shared information with Swift about filing appeals. Brown said he was glad Swift will get a new trial and said someone should look at how the system works.
"If you look at it, it's the same sheriff, Peter Pinckney. It's the same judge, Peter Corning. It's the same cabal," Brown said. "They need to look at every single case they prosecuted."Read more about Roy Brown’s exoneration here.
Read the full story here. (Syracuse Post-Standard, 06/20/08)
Tags: Roy Brown
The Art of Innocence
Posted: October 27, 2008 4:00 pm
A four-day event next week in Utica, New York, will feature speeches by three men exonerated through DNA testing, along with film screenings, a theater production, an art contest and more. “The Art of Innocence” is scheduled for November 5 – -9, and will feature talks with exonerees Roy Brown, Alan Newton and Dennis Maher, as well as Innocence Project Staff Attorney Alba Morales.
Other event highlights include a performance of the play “The Exonerated,” and a screening of the new documentary film “Blanchard Road, Murder in the Finger Lakes” about Roy Brown’s case.
Learn more about “The Art of Innocence.”
Tags: Roy Brown, Dennis Maher, Alan Newton
New York Man to Receive State Compensation
Posted: December 10, 2008 4:50 pm
In a settlement announced yesterday, Roy Brown will receive $2.6 million from the state of New York. Brown sued the state in May 2007 after spending 15 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. He was freed in January 2007 after DNA testing obtained by the Innocence Project proved his innocence and pointed to the identity of the real perpetrator.
"It's some sort of justice. It doesn't correct things or make things right. I can still feel the weight of those chains, but they're not that heavy anymore," said Brown, now 47.Read more about Roy Brown’s case here.
"I think I would like it to be a lot more, but I don't have that much time to hang around waiting. I have a lot of medical bills to pay," said Brown, who had a liver transplant last year and said he has about $250,000 in medical bills.
Read the full story here. (Associated Press, 12/9/08)
Tags: Roy Brown
Marking Two Years Free, Roy Brown Pushes for Change in New York
Posted: March 5, 2009 3:13 am
Today marks the two-year anniversary of Roy Brown’s exoneration in upstate New York. Brown, who served 15 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit, testified last week before a New York State Bar Association panel on the causes of wrongful convictions and proposed reforms to prevent injustice.
"If you're innocent and in jail, chances are you are going to sit there," Brown told the task force. "Too many guilty people get away, and too many innocent people sit there. It's just wrong."
Brown was instrumental in securing his own freedom. While seeking DNA testing in his case, Brown obtained police documents identifying a man named Barry Bench as an alternate suspect. He learned more about Bench and began to suspect that he was the killer. Around Christmas of 2003, Brown wrote to Bench, asking him to come clean and help Brown clear his name. Days later, Bench committed suicide.
In 2005, the Innocence Project began working on Brown’s case. A year later, DNA evidence proved that Bench’s saliva was on the victim’s shirt. No evidence connected Brown to the murder. He was released in late 2006 and officially exonerated on March 5, 2007. Since his release, he has been an outspoken advocate for criminal justice reform.
Read more about his case here.
Other anniversaries this week:
Wednesday: David Allen Jones, California (Served 9 years, exonerated 3/4/04)
Sunday: Richard Johnson, Illinois (Served 4 years, exonerated 3/8/1996)
Anthony Powell, Massachusetts (Served 12 years, exonerated 3/8/2004)
Tags: Roy Brown
Senators Consider Federal Forensic Reforms
Posted: September 9, 2009 5:42 pm
Innocence Project Co-Director Peter Neufeld testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee today about the need for federal standards and for research in forensic science. And Neufeld and other witnesses found bipartisan support for a federal role in stimulating research, training forensic analysts and setting standards.
Forensics have been a central part of the criminal justice system for decades. Defendants are regularly convicted of crimes based on analysis of fingerprints, hair samples or blood spatters from a crime scene. A recent report by the National Academy of Sciences said many of those techniques have never been scientifically tested.With Neufeld at today’s hearing was Roy Brown, who spent 15 years in prison in New York for a murder he didn’t commit. He was convicted based in large part on faulty bite mark analysis.
That report "is one of the most important developments in forensic science since the creation of the first crime laboratory in the 1920s," Case Western Reserve professor Paul Gianelli told the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Sen. Al Franken (D-MI) called the report's conclusions "damning" and "terrifying."
"The forensic dentist [at Roy Brown's trial] used what was then the prevailing method of comparing bite marks found on a body with the dentures of a suspect," said Neufeld. "He examined them and decided that he had a match with Roy's bite. He so testified in court, and Roy was convicted."
Read (and listen to) the full story. (NPR All Things Considered, 09/09/09)Watch a webcast of the full hearing.
Take action today: Tell Congress you support the creation of the National Institute of Forensic Science.
Tags: Roy Brown, Forensic Oversight, Unvalidated/Improper Forensics
Saturday on Investigation Discovery: The Roy Brown Story
Posted: March 26, 2010 4:20 pm
Brown was convicted in 1992 of the murder of a social-service worker in upstate New York based in part on the testimony of a bite-mark analyst who improperly claimed that several marks on the victim's body were "entirely consistent" with Brown's teeth. Although the courts denied his appeals again and again in the years that followed his conviction, Brown was able to solve his own from his prison cell, developing the information that would lead to his release.
Brown filed a Freedom of Information Act request that led to his receipt of undisclosed documents implicating another man, Barry Bench. In 2003, Brown wrote a letter to Bench stating that DNA evidence would reveal him as the true murderer. Bench committed suicide five days after the letter was mailed.
The Innocence Project took Brown's case in 2004 and worked with Bench's daughter to obtain a DNA sample. Her DNA matched biological evidence recovered from the crime scene. However, the trial judge was still not satisfied. According to Peter Neufeld, co-director of the Innocence Project, the judge claimed that "he had more confidence in the highly questionable practice of bite-mark analyst than in the hard science of DNA." Bite-mark analysis, which lacks the scientific rigor of other disciplines, was heavily criticized by the National Academy of Sciences in its 2009 Report on the state of forensic science in the United States.
In light of the Judge's refusal to vacate the conviction, Bench's body was exhumed and a second round of DNA testing was conducted in 2006. The results excluded Brown and confirmed Bench as the source of saliva stains on the victim's shirt, and in 2007 Brown's conviction was vacated.
Read more about Brown’s case here.
Other Exoneration Anniversaries This Week:
Andrew Gossett, Texas (Exonerated 3/21/07, Served 7 Years)
Tags: Roy Brown