LEVON BROOKS



(March 13, 2008) At a hearing this morning in Macon, Mississippi, Innocence Project client Levon Brooks was finally cleared of all charges relating to a heinous child murder for which he served the last 15 years in prison. Brooks was sentenced to life in prison for the1992 murder of his ex-girlfriend's three-year-old daughter after false forensic testimony implicated him in the crime. Another Innocence Project client, Kennedy Brewer, was sentenced to death for a similar child murder in the same town 18 months later.

DNA testing on evidence from the crime scene in Brewer's case implicated another man in the crime. The DNA profile matched a local man, who later confessed to killing both children alone. The DNA testing, combined with the confession, led to the release and exoneration of Brewer and Brooks - and raised dozens of serious questions about the way forensic science is performed in Mississippi. Now, as Brooks and Brewer try to rebuild their lives, they hope their cases will help improve the criminal justice system that failed them so terribly.

Both men's cases were investigated by the same sheriff's officer and prosecuted by the same District Attorney. The same discredited medical examiner and disgraced "bite-mark" expert testified falsely in both men's cases.

The medical examiner who performed both autopsies, Dr. Steven Hayne, is not properly board-certified and does not comply with basic professional standards. The bite-mark expert, Dr. Michael West, has been expelled from professional associations and roundly discredited. Findings of both Hayne and West (who have frequently collaborated on cases, as they did in Brewer and Brooks' cases) have been overturned multiple times in court because they are not based on science or facts.

"Levon Brooks' long nightmare is finally over, but we are just beginning to uncover the extent of forensic misconduct that led to his wrongful conviction and countless others across Mississippi," Neufeld said after today's hearing. "For the public to have any confidence in the state's criminal justice system, Steven Hayne and Michael West must be held accountable and must be prevented from testifying in future cases."

 

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