Convicted killer gets hearing to present new evidence

OGDEN -- Jessica Armstrong will tell you Debra Brown is her favorite aunt.

Fifteen years ago, she sat through the trial when Brown, 53, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. And on Tuesday, she was there when Brown got a new crack at proving her long-proclaimed innocence.

"We've supported her this long and we feel like, in the end, the good is coming out and her innocence will be proved," Armstrong said.

Brown convicted in 1993 killing

It was Nov. 7, 1993, when Debra Brown found her good friend and employer Lael Brown dead in his home with three gunshot wounds to the head.

Police said there was no sign of forced entry, and Debra Brown was the only person with a key to Lael Brown's home. Items were missing from his home, including his gun used in the crime, his wallet and money.

During the investigation, police searched Debra Brown's home and personal items and found no murder weapon, no stolen property and no blood or other evidence.

But they say she had a motive: She had been forging more than $3,500 in checks.

She was charged with the murder and found guilty by a jury in October of 1995. She has maintained her innocence ever since she was arrested.

Attorneys present appeals, evidence

Brown appealed her conviction to the Utah Supreme Court, where it was affirmed, but she has been allowed a hearing on the evidence in her case under a 2008 statute that allows for a determination of factual innocence when new evidence that could prove an individual's innocence is discovered in a case.

Brown's current attorneys believe she was convicted on circumstantial evidence, the result of shoddy police work and ineffective attorneys.

"This is the result of a completely inadequate police investigation by members of the Logan Police Department ... who failed to follow up on leads which would have exonerated Debra Brown," defense attorney Alan Sullivan said.

He said investigators never photographed or analyzed what could have been key evidence, such as a bloody handprint that was left on a door frame, or reports that a man named Bobby Sheen may have been in the area at the time of the shooting.

Sheen was a former tenant of Lael Brown who had recently been evicted. He has since died.

Sullivan also said someone could easily have entered the home through a back door that had been held together by duct tape. "Either her (former lawyers) didn't know the facts or they didn't present them," Sullivan said.

But prosecutor Scott Reed reminded 2nd District Judge Michael DiReda that this wasn't a trial and there is a presumption of guilt, not innocence, in this hearing.

"This is not a hearing to determine whether, 17 years later, there is reasonable doubt as to her guilt, but factual, undeniable, by-golly-I-didn't-do-it evidence," Reed said.

He called Brown's alibi "imperfect, incomplete" and said the alleged police mistakes and inefficient assistance by her trial counsel were "irrelevant."

"(Debra Brown) had access, she had motive and she had opportunity," Reed said, noting multiple times that the new evidence doesn't include anything "clear and convincing" enough to prove the woman's innocence.

Sullivan presented as many as three separate case information sheets officers filled out during the investigation that offered information and tips that officers testified weren't investigated, including two separate reports that Lael Brown was seen alive the night before he was found. Another report stated that they believed Bobby Sheen was responsible for Lael Brown's death.

There were also written notes from Michael Vaughan, who was a Logan police detective at the time, that twice show Buddy Sheen listed as a potential suspect. But Vaughan said he "can't recall" why Sheen was never questioned.

Eric Collins, who was the first officer to arrive on scene, testified that he initially thought Lael Brown's death was a suicide, but it was soon determined the death was most likely a homicide. After a line of questioning by Sullivan implying that officers should have done more to evaluate and preserve the crime scene, Sullivan asked: "Would you have done some things differently?"

"Obviously," Collins replied.

Trial process explained

The Rocky Mountain Innocence Center was instrumental in getting this case before a judge. The center's director, Katie Monroe, said she could not talk about the evidence until the hearings are finished later this week, but she explained the process.

Her office has been working with Debra Brown since 2003. They are proceeding with her case under a statute that was passed in 2008, which allows a person in prison to return to court to try to prove their innocence in a post-conviction setting.

"Typically these cases only go forward where there is DNA evidence, where you can get access to evidence from the original scene, get it tested and that proves your innocence," Monroe said. "In those cases it can take two to three years to develop the case. In a case like this where you have to go forward on non-DNA evidence, it can be 10, 15, 20 years before you can investigate that case thoroughly enough to go back to court."

Legal observers say this case with no DNA evidence could be a landmark.

In Utah, this is the first one, so it is clearly unique," Monroe said. "It can often be close to impossible to get back into court and prove a claim of innocence this far, this long after somebody has been convicted."

Monroe said the error rate in the justice system is somewhere between 3 and 6 percent. Moore said, given those numbers, a couple of hundred people incarcerated in Utah may actually be innocent.

One convict has been exonerated in Utah. Bruce Dallas Goodman was freed in 2004 after spending 19 years in the Utah State Prison for murder. His case had DNA evidence; most potential innocence cases don't.

Monroe said DNA evidence is available in fewer than 10 percent of post-conviction cases. Many cases are not crimes in which a perpetrator left DNA evidence behind. Often times the evidence is not collected or it may not have been preserved.

The Innocence Center hopes Brown will be exonerated. More appeals are possible if she is not.

Friends and family support Brown

Debra Brown sat through Tuesday's proceedings surrounded by friends and family. She smiled pleasantly and sincerely when she came into the courtroom, outfitted in a white prison jumpsuit and handcuffs.

When she would look back at those supporting her, including her brother, son and daughter, she would become visibly emotional. And there was no limit to the positive things they had to say about her.

"She's amazing." "She has a lot of grit." "She keeps us all going."

Even Sullivan, who said his client is doing "great," said she is "one of the sweetest people."

For Brown's family, the opportunity to have such a hearing has given them a feeling of possibility.

"Today, we're just excited to be here," Brown's daughter Alana Williams said. "We're trying to get her back home with us."

Brown's brother, Dave Scott, said he feels "the system failed" his sister and that he has his fingers crossed that she will be found innocent so she can be there for Christmases, Thanksgivings and birthdays, which she has been noticeably absent from for 17 years.

"She's no choir girl and she's made some mistakes, but she shouldn't have to get the verdict she got," he said. "We're just so thankful to be here today and hopeful justice will be served."

The hearing on evidence -- which is scheduled for up to two weeks -- is anticipated to continue at least through Friday, when Debra Brown is anticipated to take the stand.

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Story compiled with contributions from Emiley Morgan and John Daley.

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