OXFORD, Miss – The Mississippi Innocence Project at the
University of Mississippi School of Law has announced the
expected exoneration of two men convicted of capital murder
and the arrest last week of the man who is thought to be
guilty of the crimes.
The local organization worked in conjunction with Jackson
attorney Robert B. McDuff and the Innocence Project in New
York on the cases of Kennedy Brewer and Levon Brooks.
As a result of post-conviction DNA testing, the state has
announced that it will clear Brewer at a hearing Friday
(Feb. 15) in Noxubee County. The Mississippi Innocence
Project filed pleadings on behalf of Brooks so that he too
is expected to be released and cleared. When he is cleared
this week, Brewer will become the first prisoner in
Mississippi to be exonerated on the basis of such testing.
Brewer was convicted in 1995 in Lowndes County for the
capital murder and rape of a 3-year-old girl and was
sentenced to death. Brooks also was convicted of capital
murder and rape of a different 3-year-old during his 1992
trial. Both men maintained their innocence, said Tucker
Carrington, director of the Mississippi Innocence Project.
On July 7, 1992, prior to Brewer’s trial, the rape kit
gathered during the investigation was analyzed at the
Mississippi Crime Laboratory and seminal fluid was
identified. In 2001 at the behest of Brewer’s appellate
lawyers, this evidence was submitted to a private
laboratory for post-conviction DNA testing. The testing
confirmed that Brewer was not the donor. However, the state
decided at that time to retry Brewer instead of exonerating
him.
As a result, law enforcement did not reinvestigate either
the Brewer or the Brooks case even though the two were
remarkably similar in modus operandi and even though the
state had clearly convicted the wrong perpetrator in
Brewer’s case, Carrington said.
Last week, additional testing was conducted by defense
attorneys, and the test showed the evidence matched the DNA
of an individual who had been a suspect early in the
investigation. Defense lawyers, working in conjunction with
the state Attorney General’s Office, moved quickly to
arrest the suspect, Albert Johnson, who still lived in the
community where the two girls were abducted and killed.
Carrington said Johnson subsequently confessed to both
crimes, thereby clearing Brooks and Brewer.
Carrington said Mississippi Innocence Project students,
particularly third-year law student McCann LeFeve of
Gulfport and second-year law student Krystal Walker of
Louisville, are playing an important role in the
developments.
“The two of them worked feverishly once news of the DNA
match and arrest arose in the last week, and helped
research and prepare the writ that was filed in the
Mississippi Supreme Court this past Friday,” he said.
Carrington added that the main position of the Mississippi
Innocence Project remains unchanged.
“Mississippi needs meaningful criminal justice reform,” he
said. “Our office endeavors to be a leader – whether it is
representing clients with viable claims of innocence or
legislative initiatives. The facts of the Brewer and Brooks
cases speak for themselves. They are emblematic of sloppy
law enforcement, questionable forensic science and the
perils of the state’s lack of DNA preservation and testing
legislation.”
For more information on the Mississippi Innocence Project,
contact Tucker Carrington at 662-915-5206. For more
information on the case of Kennedy Brewer, contact Robert
B. McDuff at 601-969-0802. For more information on the case
of Levon Brooks, contact either Carrington or McDuff.
For more information on the School of Law, visit