Free Floyd Brown, Part II

Background

As discussed in a prior post, Floyd Brown, an innocent mentally retarded man, has been locked up for 14 years without a trial. He has been held at the state mental hospital since 1993 in connection with the murder of an Anson County woman. Until the Supreme Court banned the execution of the mentally retarded, he was facing a death sentence. Two days ago, his attorneys filed a petition that could finally win him his freedom.

I encourage everyone to read the entire petition here. The section on the severity of his mental retardation, especially in light of the detailed confession he is alleged to have given, is particularly moving. (Normally, I would encourage non-attorneys to skip the procedural section and get right to the juicy stuff, but even the chronology of events in this case is outrageous.)

New Information

The petition puts forth new information pointing to Mr. Brown’s innocence and blatant misconduct on the part of the Anson County Sheriff’s Department, including:

> Law enforcement officers conducted a search of Mr. Brown and his home prior to his arrest for which there is no documentation. No warrants were obtained and no reports were produced. The record contains a Consent to Search form signed by Mr. Brown on the day before law enforcement claims it first made contact with him. Mr. Brown’s sister observed him being taken from his home by law enforcement officers on that date.

> The victim had been assaulted during a home invasion two years prior to her death. The detectives who investigated the murder were the same detectives who investigated the assault. Despite similarities between the two crimes, the officers never attempted to determine the whereabouts of the men who had been convicted of the prior assault. Complete information about the assault has not yet been provided to defense counsel. The police had multiple other substantial leads they failed to follow up on.

> Law enforcement and prosecutors have failed to investigate or explain the fact that the victim died hours before the time stated in the fabricated confession allegedly taken from Mr. Brown. Records from the EMT who examined the body at the scene and a noted forensic pathologist indicate that the victim was dead for at least three hours before the statement says she was murdered.

Other interesting facts

> Law enforcement officers first spoke to Mr. Brown based on a tip that came from patrons of a liquor house. (For non-Southerners, this is a sort of illegal bar which serves liquor at all hours of the day and night, despite a person’s level of intoxication.) One witness indicated that a black male with a moustache, weighing approximately 150 pounds, told patrons of the liquor house that he knew about the murder. Mr. Brown has never had a moustache and weighed 120 pounds at the time of his arrest. The witness who allegedly identified Mr. Brown by name denies ever speaking to law enforcement, and there are no notes or official record of the alleged conversation.

> One of the detectives involved in the investigation was responsible for the preservation of the evidence in the murder, all of which has subsequently disappeared. This includes forensic evidence, preliminary testing of which indicated that Mr. Brown was not involved in the murder.

Where Things Stand

The petition concludes:

In this case, all of the elements for a perfect storm of injustice - a brutal murder in a small town with no suspect; corrupt cops who believed the ends justified the means; and a man with the mind of a little boy lacking both the knowledge and the means to defend himself - have converged over the life of Floyd Brown. As a result, Floyd has been confined to Dorothea Dix Hospital for the past 14 years because his mental retardation prevents him from ever becoming competent to stand trial.

This case illustrates that desperate men will do desperate things. Having no leads and under pressure to solve the case, the Anson County Sheriff’s Department and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation turned to information from patrons and residents of a liquor house as justification for their pursuit of Floyd Brown. Then, when they could not find any evidence to link Floyd to the murder of Catherine Lynch, they conspired to create the best evidence they could: a fabricated confession….

For justice to be done in this case, Floyd Brown must be set free, he must be allowed to return to society and live in the group home awaiting him, and the charges that have plagued him for the past 14 years must be dismissed with prejudice.

(Procedural note: The current status of Mr. Brown’s case is that the charges against him have been dismissed with leave. However, he is being held in the state mental hospital under civil commitment laws. Should he ever become competent, Anson County will reinstate the charges and bring him to trial. In effect, he is still accused, and he is being held indefinitely. To dismiss the case with prejudice would mean that Mr. Brown would be able to return to his family, and that Anson County would be prevented from resurrecting these fraudulent charges again in the future.)

What You Can Do

Concerned citizens can contact the district attorney and ask that Mr. Brown’s case be dismissed with prejudice.

Honorable Michael Parker, DA
District Attorney’s Office
P.O. Box 761
Wadesboro, NC 28170

(704) 694-0129