Justice is not always swift. Sometimes the road to victory is long and treacherous, and for people who get wrongfully convicted and sent to death row, the success of their appeals can make the difference between life and death. A death row inmate finally got freed after a lengthy appeal revealed that the prosecutor withheld evidence during his trial and, while under oath, denied having information that supported the defendant’s alibi.

Alfred Dewayne Brown, along with two others, got convicted of killing a police officer and a clerk during a 2003 robbery at a check cashing store. Throughout his trial and subsequent incarceration on death row, Brown maintained his innocence and said that there are phone records which could prove that he was at home at the time that the robbery and murders happened.

The phone records that Brown said would support his alibi show that he had called his girlfriend from his home at the time that the crimes were in progress. The records got found in 2013 by a detective who was searching Brown’s home. They were in his garage. After the records got found, a court overturned Brown’s conviction, and prosecutors chose not to bring the case back to trial.

In 2008, Dan Rizzo said under oath that he didn’t withhold information that could have aided Alfred Dewayne Brown’s defense. The prosecutor claims that not mentioning that the phone records got found was a mistake, that the failure to disclose the records was unintentional. However, that assertion and how sworn statement directly contradicts a recently recovered email that just got released by the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. The email shows that in 2003, before Brown’s trial, the prosecutor got told about phone records that could have been used to support Brown’s defense. The prosecutor never told Brown’s defense attorney about the phone records, despite the “Brady Rule” that requires that any materials that could possibly exculpate a defendant get provided to that defendant’s attorneys by the prosecution.

Alfred Dewayne Brown is now free, and in light of what had happened in his case, there is an effort underway to examine the prosecutor’s conduct in other cases, some of which resulted in convictions just as serious as Brown’s capital murder conviction. The cases that will get reviewed are cases in which the defense alleges violations of the Brady rule. It has not yet gotten decided how many cases could potentially get affected by the review.

Unfortunately, the statute of limitations for a possible perjury case against Rizzo has already run. It is still possible that he could face disciplinary action, but it is uncertain what result that would have because he is retired. Brown had been pursuing a civil suit against Harris County for compensation for the ten years that he spent wrongfully incarcerated on death row. The state rejected his request for compensation, saying that it cannot pay him since he has not been declared innocent. It is unclear whether Brown or anyone else will continue to pursue compensation.

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If you recently got charged with a crime, know you do not have to fight your Texas criminal charges alone. A Texas Criminal Defense Attorney can walk with you through your criminal case towards a successful resolution. Call Texas Criminal Defense Attorney Alex Tyra, at (903) 753-7499, or fill out a contact form on our website.