Logan woman's innocence case now in judge's hands

OGDEN — Debra Brown's family has waited 17 years for the woman to have a chance to prove the innocence she has claimed since she was charged and convicted of murder.

"It's tough to wait, for sure, but we've been waiting a long time," Brown's son-in-law Lance Williams said following closing arguments in the case Monday. "The anxiety is at the highest level yet."

After four days of evidence in Brown's case, the determination on whether or not the 53-year-old Logan woman will be exonerated or have her conviction upheld is now in the hands of 2nd District Judge Michael DiReda.

"Because of the volume of materials before me, it isn't a matter I feel comfortable ruling on at this point," he said following closing arguments. "I can tell you it won't take me 17 years."

He is aware that his decision will "forge new ground" as this is the first hearing of its kind, made possible under a 2008 statute that allows for a determination of factual innocence when new evidence is discovered that could prove an individual's innocence.

Debra Brown has been in prison for murder since Oct. 1995. Less than two years earlier, she 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. They also said she had forged more than $3,500 in checks and had a motive.

She was charged with the murder and found guilty by a jury, but has maintained her innocence since she was arrested.

The Rocky Mountain Innocence Project took her case on in 2003 and spent years researching and, according to Brown's attorney, gathering information that negates the "circumstantial evidence" they feel led to her conviction.

"The meaning of factual innocence in this type of case, and our obligation, is to prove by clear and convincing evidence that each element of the circumstantial case is false," her attorney Alan Sullivan said.

He was emphatic that evidence suggests that Lael Brown's home may not have been secure and, therefore, susceptible to anyone; that there is a former tenant of Lael Brown's, named Bobby Sheen, who was considered a police suspect but never interviewed; and that Lael Brown most likely didn't even know about the forged checks.

"(Lael and Debra Brown) were close friends," Sullivan said. "She depended on Lael like she depended on no one else and had no reason to murder him."

He said the case is "troublesome from the start" — the result of "slipshod" police work that misled a jury. "We ask the court to hold Debra Brown innocent," Sullivan said.

Assistant Attorney General Scott Reed argued that the judge should also be careful and aware that he is "poised to write a new chapter in the annals of Utah history." He said many people are watching with "hope and fear."

"Fear that there will be a deluge coming to court after victims, suspects and attorneys are dead and say: 'What about me?'" Reed said.

He reiterated his belief that Debra Brown has failed to prove that she could not have murdered Lael Brown and stated that pointing to Bobby Sheen, who took his own life in 2007, was not sufficient evidence.

"Whatever Bobby Sheen may have been, he is not the real killer of Lael Brown," Reed said. "He is a mirage. Regardless of how you characterize the contrived involvement of Bobby Sheen, it is not clear and convincing evidence he had anything to do with Lael Brown's death."

He outlined a number of the statements made at the time of Brown's trial that he believe reaffirmed the woman's conviction.

"These are the many, many reasons the jury reached a guilty verdict in 1995," he said.

Williams said he feels those representing Debra Brown "did a great job" and his wife, Brown's daughter, Alana Williams, agreed.

"I feel good about it," she said. "I feel it's not the end."

E-mail: emorgan@desnews.com

Related topics