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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
First Degree Murder |
Sentence: |
Life Imprisonment |
Years Imprisoned: |
5.08 |
Year Crime: |
2010 |
Year Convicted: |
2011 |
Year Cleared: |
2015 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Wisconsin |
County or Region of Crime: |
Milwaukee |
City of Crime: |
Milwaukee |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"Brandon D'Andre Burnside was wrongly convicted on January 12, 2011 of first-degree intentional homicide in the shooting death of 29-year-old Bryan "Yoda" Drake II on August 11, 2010 outside Love's Liquor store in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The prosecution's case was based on statements Burnside made to the police after being in custody but prior to being read his Miranda rights. The trial judge denied Burnside's pretrial motion to suppress the statements. Although Burnside did not confess to the crime and denied committing it, the prosecution used his statements to suggest his guilt. After his conviction by a jury Burnside was sentenced on March 25, 2011 to life in prison. Burnside appealed, arguing the trial judge erred denying his motion to suppress his non-Mirandized statements. On April 29, 2014 the Wisconsin Court of Appeals reversed Burnside's conviction on the basis the trial judge prejudicially erred in denying Burnside's suppression motion. The Milwaukee County DA elected to retry Brandon Burnside. In September 2015 he was acquitted by a jury after his retrial. Burnside's retrial was a rerun of his first trial sans his inadmissible statements and new favorable evidence regarding the DNA testing of three shirts found at the crime scene. There was detectable DNA on two of the shirts but it didn't match Burnside. A crime lab analyst testified that after the trial began a match was made of the DNA with someone in the state's database of violent felons, but the person had not yet been identified. Burnside's lawyer used that testimony to argue it supported reasonable doubt about Burnside's guilt, because that unidentified person could likely be the shooter." |
Conviction Caused By: |
Judge's error of allow inadmissible testimony regarding Burnside's statements made before he was read his Miranda rights. |
Innocence Proved By: |
In September 2015 he was acquitted by a jury after his retrial. |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
26 |
Age When Released: |
32 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
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Information Source 1: |
"Man convicted of homicide in 2011 acquitted after retrial, By Bruce Vielmetti (Staff writer), Journal Sentinel (Milwaukee, Wis.), September 23, 2015" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.jsonline.com/news/crime/man-convicted-of-homicide-in-2011-acquitted-after-retrail-b99583186z1-328987361.html |
Information Source 2: |
"Man guilty in August homicide, By Staff writer, Journal Sentinel (Milwaukee, Wis.), January 12, 2011" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.jsonline.com/news/crime/113387474.html |
Information Source 3: |
"Wisconsin v. Brandon D'Andre Burnside, No. 2013AP1293-CR (Wis. Ct. of Appeals, 4-29-2014) (Vacating conviction based on improper use of non-Mirandized statements and ordering a retrial)" |
Information Location 3: |
https://www.wicourts.gov/ca/opinion/DisplayDocument.pdf?content=pdf&seqNo=111137 |
Information Source 4: |
"Man sentenced to life for fatal August shooting, By Bruce Vielmetti (Staff writer), Journal Sentinel (Milwaukee, Wis.), March 25, 2015" |
Information Location 4: |
http://www.jsonline.com/news/crime/118684864.html |
Information Source 5: |
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Information Location 5: |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org