"THE ACTION IN MISSISSIPPI LIKELY WOULD NOT HAVE COME ABOUT THIS YEAR HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR THE CASES OF KENNEDY BREWER AND LEVON BROOKS. THEY'RE TWO BLACK MEN FROM NOXUBEE COUNTY WHO WERE CONVICTED IN SEPARATE CASES IN THE EARLY 1990S OF THE BRUTAL KILLINGS OF TWO TODDLERS.
BREWER WAS CONVICTED OF CAPITAL MURDER IN 1995 AND SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RAPING AND KILLING 3-YEAR-OLD CHRISTINE JACKSON. LEVON BROOKS WAS CONVICTED IN 1992 AND SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON FOR THE RAPE AND MURDER OF COURTNEY SMITH. SHE ALSO WAS 3.
BREWER WAS EVENTUALLY MOVED FROM DEATH ROW AFTER IT WAS DISCOVERED DNA EVIDENCE FOUND ON CHRISTINE DIDN'T MATCH HIM, BUT HE REMAINED IN PRISON UNTIL 2007. BREWER AND BROOKS WERE EXONERATED OF THE CRIMES IN 2008, MONTHS AFTER A THIRD MAN, JUSTIN ALBERT JOHNSON, ALLEGEDLY CONFESSED TO BOTH MURDERS. AUTHORITIES ALSO SAID THE DNA EVIDENCE LINKED JOHNSON TO JACKSON'S MURDER.
WHAT MADE THE CONVICTIONS OF BROOKS AND BREWER SO STARK WAS THE FACT THAT THEY WERE CONVICTED MOSTLY ON THE TESTIMONY OF ODONTOLOGIST DR. MICHAEL WEST OF HATTIESBURG AND DR. STEVEN HAYNE, A FORMER STATE PATHOLOGIST. HAYNE IDENTIFIED BITE MARKS ON THE BODY. WEST CLAIMED THE BITE-MARKS WERE MADE BY THE TWO FRONT TEETH OF THE SUSPECTS."
AMELIA BYRD: ASSOCIATED PRESS; PHOTO: LEVON BROOKS (LEFT; KENNEDY BREWER (RIGHT);
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Change comes slowly in Mississippi's justice system - largely as a result of the ordeals that innocent accused person's such as Levon Brooks and Kennedy Brewer have been put through by the uncaring state.
That change also comes grudgingly as a result of the efforts of dedicated Innocence Projects operating through lawyers that understand their important roles and cannot sit back in the face of injustice.
It also comes as a result of journalists such as Radley Balko of "the Agitator" whose articles in"Reason" have exposed the tainted testimony of purported experts such as Drs. Steven Hayne and Mi - and are putting enormous pressureon the State to review cases where innocent people may have been convicted by their tainted testimony.
Recent changes are set out in an article by Associated Press reporter Shelia Byrd, in a recent story headed: "Analysis: Noxubee Co. cases inspire new Miss. laws," published on April 6, 2009;"
"Mississippi has joined more than two dozen other states in creating a compensation fund for those wrongly convicted and sent to prison, but it took two egregious cases of injustice to spur the action," the story begins;
"Yes, innocent people are convicted of crimes and thrown into prison in Mississippi and elsewhere around the country. Advocates say a disproportionate share of those cases involve blacks, particularly if they are poor," it continues;
Back in 2004, Congress passed legislation to address federal cases of wrongful imprisonment. The legislation compensates federal prisoners at $50,000 for every year they were behind bars. There's no cap on how much the prisoners can receive. For the innocent who were sent to death row, the compensation is $100,000 a year with no cap.
The federal law sets a standard, but compensation funds created in the states vary in how much money freed prisoners are entitled to.
A bill signed into law last week by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour provides $50,000 for each year of wrongful imprisonment, up to a maximum of $500,000. The compensation must be sought within three years after a pardon or overturned conviction. It is retroactive. But once inmates receive the compensation they cannot file a lawsuit against the state.
Among the states in the South with similar funds, Mississippi is on the low side, based on information from the New York-based Innocence Project, an attorneys' group that takes on cases of inmates believed to be wrongly convicted.
Tennessee's compensation fund provides a maximum of $1 million. Alabama's is a minimum of $50,000 per year of incarceration. North Carolina provides $50,000 per year with a maximum of $750,000, plus job skills training and expenses for tuition. Louisiana's compensation is $15,000 per year of incarceration with a maximum of $150,000. Job training and tuition may also be awarded by the courts.
The action in Mississippi likely would not have come about this year had it not been for the cases of Kennedy Brewer and Levon Brooks. They're two black men from Noxubee County who were convicted in separate cases in the early 1990s of the brutal killings of two toddlers.
Brewer was convicted of capital murder in 1995 and sentenced to death for raping and killing 3-year-old Christine Jackson. Levon Brooks was convicted in 1992 and sentenced to life in prison for the rape and murder of Courtney Smith. She also was 3.
Brewer was eventually moved from death row after it was discovered DNA evidence found on Christine didn't match him, but he remained in prison until 2007. Brewer and Brooks were exonerated of the crimes in 2008, months after a third man, Justin Albert Johnson, allegedly confessed to both murders. Authorities also said the DNA evidence linked Johnson to Jackson's murder.
What made the convictions of Brooks and Brewer so stark was the fact that they were convicted mostly on the testimony of odontologist Dr. Michael West of Hattiesburg and Dr. Steven Hayne, a former state pathologist. Hayne identified bite marks on the body. West claimed the bite-marks were made by the two front teeth of the suspects.
A panel of experts later shot down the theory.
The state took notice. Hayne's contract to perform autopsies on behalf of Mississippi wasn't renewed last year. During the 2009 legislative session, Barbour signed into a law a bill the requires the state to preserve DNA collected in felony cases.
"State lawmakers learned from the Brewer and Brooks exonerations and turned them into an opportunity to improve the criminal justice system," said Stephen Saloom, policy director of the Innocence Project. "While Kennedy Brewer and Levon Brooks can never get back the time they lost while they were wrongfully imprisoned, the injustice they endured was not in vain because it led to these important reforms.""
Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;
