Ex-Death Row Inmate Declared Innocent Of Capital Murder By DA

HOUSTON — A Houston man who spent a decade on death row was cleared of all capital murder charges stemming from the deaths of a Houston police officer and a store clerk 15 years ago. Alfred Dewayne Brown, who was convicted in 2005, was declared innocent nearly four years after the charges were dismissed and he was released from prison, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced at a news conference Friday. The decision will now allow Brown to qualify for the state payout awarded to people wrongfully convicted.

Brown was convicted of capital murder in the shooting deaths of Houston Police officer Charles Clark and store clerk Alfredia Jones. Both were gunned down during a botched armed robbery at an Ace check-cashing store in April 2003.

Witness testimony claimed that Brown, Dashan Glaspie, and Elijah Joubert were all their during the botched robbery. Glaspie cut a deal with the DA's office in 2005, and is serving a 30-year sentence for aggravated robbery, while Joubert was convicted of capital murder and is on Texas death row.

Press conference re Special Prosecutor Raley’s report https://t.co/rlO0ozBVk9
— Harris County DA (@HarrisCountyDAO) March 1, 2019

Brown appealed his conviction in 2013, citing evidence of a phone conversation not presented during trial. He believed that evidence would have cleared him.

Special prosecutor John Raley presented a 174-page report that detailed how Dan Rizzo, former Assistant Harris County District Attorney, suppressed evidence during the grand jury testimony. The report also claims that Rizzo allegedly coerced witness testimony by confining them to jail or threatening to have their children taken away.

In his report, Raley maintains that Brown was actually at a friend's apartment and was too far away to get to the scene when prosecutors said he was there.

“If they [the witnesses] were testifying truthfully, Brown could not have physically been at the crime scene,” Raley said.

Click to read Raley’s 174-page report

Raley added that Rizzo jumped to conclusions and that his tactics helped convict an innocent man of capital murder.

Raley’s report concluded that Brown is “actually innocent” of capital murder under Texas law.
Prosecutors filed an Amended Motion to Dismiss in the 351st District Court of Harris County, which was signed by Ogg Friday and includes Raley’s report as the only exhibit.

“There are those who will disagree,” Ogg said. “That happens every time a district attorney anywhere makes a decision of this magnitude about a person’s life.”

Meanwhile, the declaration of innocence from the Harris County DA’s Office could allow Brown to collect millions in compensation from the state.

The announcement sent shock waves through the Houston Police Officer’s Union, and drew union President Joe Gamaldi to the podium for a rebuttal to the press conference.

Gamaldi called Ogg's press conference a sham.

"It's about time that Kim Ogg started thinking about the victims and their families instead of [her] own political agenda," he said.

Gamaldi said that Ogg never met personally with the families of the victims before the press conference, but had members of her staff call the victims' families minutes before it began at 11 a.m.

Kenneth Jones, the brother of Alfredia Jones, wasn't given any notice of the press conference, according to a statement.

"It makes me sad that they would let that murder go free," Jones said in his statement. "This is the second saddest day of my life knowing justice was not served."

Two other men connected to the case remain in prison. Dashan Glaspie was convicted of aggravated robbery in a plea agreement and sentenced to 30 years. Elijah Joubert, who was convicted of capital murder by a jury, remains on death row.

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