NYT on Kennedy Brewer

Radley Balko | September 7, 2007

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Kennedy Brewer, the Mississippi man sentenced to death for raping and killing his girlfriend's daughter. The state's case against Brewer was based largely on the testimony of Dr. Michael West, a megalomaniacal "bite mark expert" who has since been suspended by several forensic professional organizations, and was forced to resign from another. Jurors believed West's assertion that bite marks on the little girl's chest matched Brewer's "upper plate," despite testimony from another expert who said the marks weren't bite marks at all.

Brewer's conviction was later thrown out when advanced DNA testing revealed that neither of two semen specimens in the rape kit taken from the little girl was his.

Yesterday, the New York Times ran a good piece on the case. The Times points out that this is the first time DNA experts can ever recall prosecutors insisting on retrying a case even after DNA testing showed samples left at the crime scene didn't match the defendant. District Attorney Forrest Allgood initially maintained that Brewer acted alone. When the DNA testing showed the presence of two other men, he merely changed his theory so he could retry Brewer as an accessory. But the only evidence linking Brewer to the murdered body of the little girl is the testimony of the clownish Dr. West and, apparently, a jailhouse informer who says Brewer admitted to him in 2005 that assailants forced him to bite the girl at gunpoint (a strange tale that doesn't conform with any theory to date abut how the crime actually happened).

What's absolutely unforgivable is that despite the fact that two men who weren't Kennedy Brewer obviously raped this little girl, prosecutors and local law enforcement have made no effort whatsoever to identify or find them. They've been too busy trying to protect their conviction.

Allgood has since been ordered off the case, and a new prosecutor has taken over. He will still retry the case and still plans to use Dr. West, but he has at least dropped the death penalty. That means Brewer is out on bond while awaiting his next trial.

I'll have an article in the November issue of reason looking deeper into the problems with forensic analysis in Mississippi, including another case involving Mr. Allgood.

Comments

|9.7.07 @ 11:35AM|#

What's absolutely unforgivable is that despite the fact that two men who weren't Kennedy Brewer obviously raped this little girl, prosecutors and local law enforcement have made no effort whatsoever to identify or find them. They've been too busy trying to protect their conviction.

Damn Radley. You always hit the nail square on the head.

|9.7.07 @ 11:40AM|#

I got as far as "Mississippi"

Can we put an entire state into receivership?

Dr. K|9.7.07 @ 11:42AM|#

An in the good news department today, Mike Nifong was taken to jail (unfortunately just for the day).

|9.7.07 @ 11:45AM|#

There is an old story about a man who had lost a sum of money. A by-stander asked where he had been and he pointed at another location. When the by-stander asked why the man don't look over where he had lost the money. His famous reply was the lights better over here. When I read some of these stories that what I think of.

|9.7.07 @ 11:55AM|#

That means Brewer is out on bond while awaiting his next trial.

If I were Mr. Brewer, I would be awfully, awfully tempted to visit a country that doesn't extradite to the U.S.

|9.7.07 @ 11:56AM|#

Justice be damned. I have my batting average to worry about. I'd love to take a crack at the rubes and rednecks in Mississippi, but this shit happens all over the country.

I don't know, but I'll wager the DA is a republican.

|9.7.07 @ 12:12PM|#

If I were Mr. Brewer, I would be awfully, awfully tempted to visit a country that doesn't extradite to the U.S.

Even if the country did extradite, you could probably make a pretty damned good case.

|9.7.07 @ 12:13PM|#

Liberty and Justice for all yeah fucking right

|9.7.07 @ 12:19PM|#

Chris Grieb

No light; but rather darkness visible

- John Milton; Paradise Lost, Book i, line 62

|9.7.07 @ 12:20PM|#

This is disgusting. There's no other word for it. Prosecutors like this make me absolutely embarrassed to be a lawyer.

Rhywun|9.7.07 @ 12:23PM|#

If you want to get executed for rape, you can always move to another town that doesn't have any little girls.

Rhywun|9.7.07 @ 12:23PM|#

Yikes. That should have been "don't want to get executed..." Need more coffee.

|9.7.07 @ 12:35PM|#

Prosecutors like this make me absolutely embarrassed to be a lawyer.

I'm sure that a humble and honorable attorney like yourself finds plenty of reasons to be embarrassed about your profession. But then no matter what our profession is, if were honest, we have plenty of reasons to be embarrassed ourselves. Lawyers just make it to the papers more often.

|9.7.07 @ 12:45PM|#

Just when I'm having a good friday, good ol' Mr. Balko brings along a story that upsets me so much I'm now in a bad mood.

Thanks for posting these though, it lets me know how many problems we have with our justice system.

|9.7.07 @ 12:46PM|#

Sounds like this prosecutor subscribes to the unindicted co-ejaculator theory.

Adam W.|9.7.07 @ 1:13PM|#

The bit quoted by Warren in the first post illustrates why there's no real debate between "convicting an innocent person" and "letting a guilty person go free": by doing the former, you thus do the latter.

Hmmmm|9.7.07 @ 1:57PM|#

I just threw up in my mouth a little.

|9.7.07 @ 2:00PM|#

Glad I didn't find that that "Michael West" googled over the one I know, one of the foremost experts and pioneers in stem cell technology. (http://www.michaelwest.org/)

M.|9.7.07 @ 2:19PM|#

Quite sad. Maybe Bob Dylan can write a song about it and he'll get justice.

mississippian|9.8.07 @ 11:25AM|#

Answer to "J sub D" at September 7, 2007, 11:56am:

The DA ran in the Democratic primary. See the list of primary candidates at the Mississippi Secretary of State's website, updated a month ago.

|9.8.07 @ 11:48AM|#

Answer to "J sub D" at September 7, 2007, 11:56am:

The DA ran in the Democratic primary. See the list of primary candidates at the Mississippi Secretary of State's website, updated a month ago.

I lose taht bet. It was a stupid comment anyway. DAs, regadless of political affiliation, often perpetrate injustice. My bad.

Robert|9.8.07 @ 9:33PM|#

Is it because the voters are so unforgiving of mistakes that nobody can ever admit one?