Dennis Brown

Dennis Brown was released from prison in September 2004, after serving nineteen years for a rape he did not commit. A young black man with learning difficulties, Dennis was seventeen years old when he was arrested. He was convicted in St. Tammany Parish after rashly volunteering to stand in as a "filler" in a line up at the police station. The victim had only been able to see her attacker's eyes, as he had covered his face. Although he was not even a suspect, the victim of the rape picked Dennis as the man who had attacked her.

Rather than question the astronomical odds of this coincidence, the police stopped investigating the matter and Dennis was prosecuted and convicted on the basis of this "identification." Dennis, who had previously lived at home caring for his blind father, was sentenced to life in prison. Dennis had no right to a lawyer in his post-conviction appeals, and so was expected to represent himself. Dennis maintained his innocence of the crime, but he had little formal education and was unable to file anything on his own behalf.

IPNO accepted his case the same week that Dennis received a form from the prison notifying him that his father had died. When the DNA test results came back excluding Dennis, he said, "I told you I wouldn't waste your time."

After six months of re-testing, and the reversal of Dennis' conviction by the court, the district attorney agreed to bail for Dennis while the case was re-examined. In September 2004 all charges against him dropped. Dennis is now rebuilding his life with the help of IPNO's Exoneree Advocacy Program.

Dennis Brown leaves prison after 19 years for a rape he did not commit.