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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Child/Minor Sexual Assault |
Sentence: |
5 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
8.54 |
Year Crime: |
1990 |
Year Convicted: |
1993 |
Year Cleared: |
2010 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Texas |
County or Region of Crime: |
Dallas |
City of Crime: |
Richardson |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"Stephen Matthew Brodie was wrongly convicted in 1993 of aggravated sexual assault of a child related to the 1990 abduction and sexual assault of a 5-year-old girl in Dallas County, Texas. The girl was found safe afterwards. Stephen Brodie, who is deaf, pled guilty after he was interrogated for 18 hours over 8 days, often without a sign interpreter present. The police interrogated Brodie after he went to the police and confessed to breaking into a soft drink machine that happened to be near where the girl lived. Brodie pled guilty to reduce the 99 years in prison he was facing if convicted after a trial, and he was sentenced to 5 years in prison. Brodie's father wrote letters to 42 organizations before the Dallas County DA's conviction integrity unit reopened his case. After a reinvestigation by the Dallas County DA's Office found only 2 of 45 details Brodie provided in his "confession" matched the crime, he confessed to a non-existent crime his police interrogators made up, and his fingerprints and hair doesn't match those believed to have come from the girl's assailtant, the DA's Office determined that Brodie had not committed the crime, he was appointed public defenders, and a motion for a new trial was filed. Brodie's motion was granted and his conviction was overturned on September 27, 2010. He was released from custody on September 28, 2010, after his paperwork was processed. Brodie had completed his 5 year sentence, but at the time of his exoneration he was serving prison time for failing to register as a sex offender in Lamar County. Since he did not commit the sex crime then he would not need to register -- processing that paperwork is what delayed his release for a day after his conviction was overturned. Brodie spent a total of 8 years, 6 months, and 18 days in custody that the State of Texas compensated him for on January 27, 2011, by awarding him a lump sum of $877,546.98, plus a lifetime monthly annuity payment of $4,298.75." |
Conviction Caused By: |
"False admission of guilt after 18 hours of interrogation over 8 days, often without a sign interpretor because Stephen Brodie is deaf and dumb." |
Innocence Proved By: |
"After a reinvestigation by the Dallas County DA's Office determined that Brodie had not committed the crime, Brodie's conviction was overturned and he was released on September 28, 2010." |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
"$877,546.98 plus $4,298.75 monthly annuity (State of Texas, 1-27-2011)" |
Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
19 |
Age When Released: |
39 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
White |
Information Source 1: |
"With 20-year cloud of guilt lifted, Dallas County's latest exoneree is just grateful to be free, By Jennifer Emily (staff), Dallas Morning News, September 29, 2010" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-brodiefree_29met.ART.State.Edition1.33b4007.html |
Information Source 2: |
"Wrongly convicted man still awaiting release from jail after his exoneration in attack on Richardson girl, , By Jennifer Emily (staff), Dallas Morning News - 09-28-2010" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/092910dnmetbrodierelease.13a402b9a.html |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org