Summary
“The Prosecution: Hidden Alibi” explores the murder of a police officer and how Alfred Dewayne Brown had to fight for his innocence.
In 2005, Alfred Dewayne Brown was convicted of capital murder for the killing of Houston police officer Charles Clark. Lawyer Brian Stolarz was adamant that Alfred was innocent and took on the case, and submitted a habeas corpus application.
What happened? Well, in Houston, Texas, an Ace Cash Express was robbed, and in the process, the men carrying out the robbery shot Officer Charles Clark, and he died.
As you can imagine, the murder of a police officer meant a constant aggressive search to find the culprits.
Unfortunately for Alfred Brown, he was loosely associated with the men who went to Ace Cash Express in a rough area of Houston. When his name was mentioned on the news, Alfred tried handing himself in to discuss with the cops his innocence.
The other two men accused Alfred Brown of shooting the officer, and there was pressure on the prosecutor, Dan Rizzo, to get the villain. In 2003, Alfred was charged with capital murder and given the death penalty; the whole case was about identification and statements, and there was no scientific evidence.
With no identification that Alfred Brown was at Ace Cash Express, they offered him 40 years without death row. His girlfriend at the time, Ericka, claims he was at her house on the couch before the crime occurred. She also said Alfred rang her after he saw the crime had happened on the news – here is his alibi. But… she was his strongest alibi, but then strangely testified against him.
It turns out that Ericka was threatened by the prosecution team that she would not have a job and that they would take her children away if she commits perjury – they put a police officer on the grand jury investigating the murder of a police officer; there was constant badgering and threats towards Ericka and she was worried about being a co-defendant on the trial. Ericka was charged with aggravated perjury with up to 30 years in prison. They broke her.
Ericka wrote to the judge and stated she would do anything to get out of prison. She revised her statement, which contradicted Alfred Brown’s, and was placed under a curfew.
It’s understandable why she did this; she was a mother with young children, but it’s unforgivable what the prosecution did.
Ericka agreed to everything they asked her on the stand – she was clearly coerced. When Alfred Brown was found guilty, he yelled emotionally, “I didn’t kill nobody, I didn’t rob nobody.”
As we near the end of The Innocence Files Episode 8, Elijah, one of the men prosecuted for the crime, wrote an affidavit to Brian Stolarz stating that Alfred Brown was not present and didn’t commit the crime. He wouldn’t say who pulled the trigger as he didn’t want to be seen as the snitch.
Brian also got an affidavit from Ericka; she admitted to Brian that Alfred Brown was at her place in the morning and that he got a phone call from him during the shooting. Brian Stolarz continued to search for evidence, including phone records.
“The Prosecution: Hidden Alibi” then tackles why Alfred Dewayne Brown is innocent. Brian Stolarz gets hold of Ericka’s landline phone records – they were in a box in Breck McDaniel’s garage. The phone expert never mentioned this phone’s records in the courtroom – they were a copy and not the originals. It was clear Dan Rizzo was hiding them away from court. Due to the findings, a Brady violation had been carried out for not turning over documents that could have helped the defense.
Years later, the new prosecutor stated that they reviewed all the evidence, including the new phone record, and subsequently dismissed the entire case. Alfred Brown was free.
There was never an expression of regret or accountability for wrongfully convicting Alfred Dewayne Brown. Dan Rizzo claims he knew nothing about the phone records. In the civil case against the state of Texas, there is a landline record sent via email, stating it is not favourable to the prosecutor’s case.
The state of Texas declares Alfred Brown innocent.
Episode 8 highlighted a few more things:
- Elijah Joubert, who is on death row and was involved in the robbery, talks about growing up in a poverty-stricken project and the pressure to survive.
- The state of Texas still requires compensation for Alfred Brown for wrongfully convicting him.
- Episode 8 states that they still want to find justice for the murder of Charles Clark.
Read More:
