WEBVTT - #393 Guest Host Tiffany Reese with Patrick Brown 0:00:00.720 --> 0:00:04.320 A warning for our listeners. This episode contains discussion of 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:08.800 child sexual assault and of suicide. Please listen with caution 0:00:09.160 --> 0:00:18.280 and care. In February of nineteen ninety four, a six 0:00:18.400 --> 0:00:21.680 year old girl living in New Orleans complained of pain 0:00:21.800 --> 0:00:25.439 in her abdomen and pelvic region. When she was examined 0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:29.400 at the hospital, the doctor suspected she had been sexually assaulted, 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:33.120 and the police were alerted. The child was questioned by 0:00:33.159 --> 0:00:37.400 doctors and by the police without apparent present. According to 0:00:37.440 --> 0:00:40.080 the doctor, when he asked who had harmed her, the 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:45.280 child named Patrick Brown, her mother's live in boyfriend. Patrick 0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:48.720 insisted that he was innocent. He would never hurt a child, 0:00:49.040 --> 0:00:54.280 let alone someone in his own family. Without any corroborating evidence, 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:58.280 the prosecution relied solely on the notes taken by the doctor, 0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:01.160 and after just a day, an hour and half of trial, 0:01:01.600 --> 0:01:05.320 the doctor's word was enough to convince the jury to convict. 0:01:06.840 --> 0:01:29.319 But this is wrongful conviction. Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction. 0:01:29.880 --> 0:01:33.120 I'm Tiffany Reese, host of the podcast Something Was Wrong, 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:37.800 sitting in for Jason flam. I am a documentarian, survivor, 0:01:37.840 --> 0:01:41.360 and advocate, and on my audio docuseries podcast I work 0:01:41.440 --> 0:01:46.160 with survivors of abuse and crime. Today's case tragically impacted 0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:49.480 the lives of two people, someone who was wrongfully convicted 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:52.080 of a heinous crime and the victim of that crime 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:55.040 who tried for decades to tell the truth that the 0:01:55.080 --> 0:01:59.160 wrong person was in prison and was not heard. Thankfully, 0:01:59.320 --> 0:02:01.960 there are two survivors in this story, and one of 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:06.080 them is with us today, Patrick Brown. Patrick, thank you 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:08.520 so much for joining us and being willing to share 0:02:08.520 --> 0:02:11.560 your story and your experience with us today. I'd like 0:02:11.639 --> 0:02:14.120 to start by just saying how sorry I am for 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:18.840 what you've experienced. It was incredibly heartbreaking coming across your 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:22.560 story and the story of the survivor. It was clear 0:02:22.600 --> 0:02:25.880 to me that you're both victims and survivors of so 0:02:26.080 --> 0:02:29.800 much systemic and legal abuse within this story, and I 0:02:29.800 --> 0:02:31.840 think it's really brave that you're willing to share with 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:36.320 us after everything that you've already experienced and overcome to 0:02:36.360 --> 0:02:38.880 be here today. So thank you so so much. 0:02:39.240 --> 0:02:40.680 Oh, you're welcome, You're welcome. 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:44.480 Thank you so much. To your attorney, Kelly Orion's, who's 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:47.200 also joining us today. Kelly, could you introduce yourself and 0:02:47.240 --> 0:02:49.520 give us a little bit about your background before we 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:51.120 jump into Patrick's story. 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:54.840 Sure, sure, thank you so much for having both of 0:02:54.919 --> 0:02:58.440 us here today. So I am the director of the 0:02:58.520 --> 0:03:01.960 Decarceration and Commune to the re Entry Clinic at the 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:07.240 University of Virginia School's Law. That is a mouthful in Charlottesville, Virginia. 0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:11.960 Patrick, I'd love to go back a bit and talk 0:03:12.000 --> 0:03:14.720 a bit about you and where you were born, and 0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:16.680 a little bit about your background and who you were 0:03:16.800 --> 0:03:19.839 leading up to this horrific experience. 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:23.320 I was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, braised in a 0:03:23.360 --> 0:03:25.680 lay and I I come from a good family. 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:27.120 We're a beautiful family. 0:03:27.680 --> 0:03:30.720 Family was full of love, so it wasn't broken at all, 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:33.560 you know, to where my family the open arms of 0:03:33.840 --> 0:03:35.680 whoever welcome and feed. 0:03:35.480 --> 0:03:37.480 Them, help them out. Well. 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:40.880 I wasn't no bad person, but I took a turn 0:03:40.920 --> 0:03:44.360 in my life as I was growing up. That's to 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:48.720 become street hung out all night, hung with the fellas, 0:03:49.280 --> 0:03:51.920 doing this, doing that, to the point to where when 0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:55.320 I met my kid, mama a soldier. 0:03:55.720 --> 0:03:57.280 You know, everybody got to have a soldier. 0:03:57.720 --> 0:04:00.440 How did you meet Kathy? What was your reallyationship? 0:04:00.600 --> 0:04:00.680 Like? 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:06.200 Oh, man, I met Cat. You know, I was just 0:04:06.240 --> 0:04:08.520 coming at the club and she was walking up and 0:04:08.560 --> 0:04:09.360 she was squiding me. 0:04:09.520 --> 0:04:12.520 So I stopped and I say, you know, saw my 0:04:12.600 --> 0:04:14.440 concerns because she's a nice looking woman. 0:04:15.160 --> 0:04:17.160 And when I talked to her, we had hooked up 0:04:17.520 --> 0:04:21.520 and we know, we dated having fun and you know, 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:27.000 moved in with her like two weeks. Then the relationships 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:30.760 stuff like that, and from there to where it was 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:35.279 a beautiful relationship. She had my daughter, and the whole 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:39.320 time she was pregnant, I was just soul protective of her. 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:42.039 I don't want nobody to smoke around her. I don't 0:04:42.040 --> 0:04:45.120 want nobody doing that. And I always pop up at 0:04:45.120 --> 0:04:49.640 the house. She'll robot stomach, leaves back in the screels, 0:04:49.680 --> 0:04:52.760 didn't come back home. It was just like like no 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:56.680 mo tea for me. And she was all the way 0:04:56.720 --> 0:04:59.600 one hundred with me. But what I was one hundred 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:03.480 with her. I understand somewhat I wasn't. Somewhat I wasn't 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:09.920 because I stood in the screech all night, hustling, try 0:05:09.960 --> 0:05:14.200 to provide for my family by the streets, and really 0:05:14.240 --> 0:05:16.080 I didn't have time for my family at home. 0:05:17.400 --> 0:05:20.119 Do you do you think like you did the best 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:22.960 you could in the situation you were in at the time. 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:25.800 I mean you were only twenty years. 0:05:25.680 --> 0:05:28.160 Old, right, right in nineteen. 0:05:28.760 --> 0:05:31.960 Yeah, I think that it's tough when you want to 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:34.080 be able to provide for your family and you feel 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:36.800 like you have limited options. I think sometimes on how. 0:05:36.640 --> 0:05:38.360 To do that right. 0:05:38.760 --> 0:05:42.400 Well, you know, I really had no guidance on how 0:05:42.440 --> 0:05:45.760 to raise a family, how to keep up with the 0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:48.120 bills and make sure. 0:05:47.960 --> 0:05:50.160 That the family had med a care and I ain't 0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:50.920 know about all that. 0:05:51.160 --> 0:05:53.280 You know, ain't nobody really hold my hand and showed 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:57.719 me how to become a man to provide for family 0:05:57.720 --> 0:05:59.599 like the man supposed to do. Because when I was 0:05:59.600 --> 0:06:02.640 really young, my dad had died. I really ain't had 0:06:02.680 --> 0:06:05.960 no fault to figure in my life. I just went 0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:08.400 on my own, try to learn from the streets. 0:06:08.760 --> 0:06:11.160 Did you have any previous run ins with the law? 0:06:11.440 --> 0:06:16.040 You mentioned, you know, the lifestyle, but did you have 0:06:16.120 --> 0:06:17.560 any like did they know who you were? 0:06:19.400 --> 0:06:20.200 When the system? 0:06:20.400 --> 0:06:24.960 The system, they did know who I was because during 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:27.360 the time of my arresting, during the time my trial, 0:06:27.560 --> 0:06:31.800 they really gave me a figure how many times that 0:06:31.920 --> 0:06:34.719 I had been arrested and the thirty seven times that 0:06:34.760 --> 0:06:40.279 I've been arrested, was fighting and activated battery, disturbing the peace, 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:44.240 stuff like that. It wasn't have really no major crime. 0:06:44.400 --> 0:06:46.479 It was like mostly missed the meanor childs. 0:06:46.960 --> 0:06:50.560 Yes, and nothing involving violence against children to be. 0:06:50.560 --> 0:06:53.600 Clear, no, no, nothing involved. 0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:57.440 Thank you, Patrick. We're going to talk about the events 0:06:57.480 --> 0:07:00.200 that led to your wrongful conviction. Now, I'd like to 0:07:00.200 --> 0:07:03.560 remind the listeners that we'll be discussing some triggering topics 0:07:03.680 --> 0:07:07.400 involving a minor child. To protect the privacy of the victim, 0:07:07.440 --> 0:07:10.760 we are not using her real name. Instead, we'll call 0:07:10.800 --> 0:07:13.800 her Sarah Kelly. Would you mind walking us through what 0:07:13.840 --> 0:07:15.240 we know of the case. 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:19.720 All right, So, first, I think it's important to make 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:25.120 clear that this is a case where someone was horrifically 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:32.160 victimized and survived an awful assault, and then was revictimized 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:36.400 for twenty years after while she tried to tell the 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:39.120 people around her, including the district Attorney's office, that the 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:41.800 wrong person was in prison. I think it's important to 0:07:41.800 --> 0:07:45.080 acknowledge the two ways that the victim in this case 0:07:45.320 --> 0:07:49.040 was and the survivor in this case was harmed. So 0:07:49.200 --> 0:07:52.840 the case starts in February of nineteen ninety four, when 0:07:52.920 --> 0:07:56.160 Sarah was six years old. It was the day after 0:07:56.280 --> 0:08:00.200 Marti Gras when she started complaining about discomfort and her 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:04.600 abdomen and her pelvic region. So they attempted some home 0:08:04.640 --> 0:08:08.280 remedies and over the counter treatment, but that didn't work, 0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:11.920 and so then she was taken in to see doctor 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:17.200 Ronald Wilcox. Doctor Wilcox immediately suspected that she had been 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:22.080 raped and asked doctor Maria Menna, a pediatric specialist in 0:08:22.200 --> 0:08:26.560 child sex abuse, to evaluate Sarah, And so they start 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:30.640 talking to Sarah about what happened to her. What's really 0:08:30.680 --> 0:08:34.440 critical to understand about what happens next is what is 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:39.559 actually said in the doctor's office versus what then gets 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:43.120 put onto paper and given to the police and given 0:08:43.400 --> 0:08:47.840 then to the district attorney's office. And what the difference 0:08:47.960 --> 0:08:51.240 is is you have in the doctor's office a lot 0:08:51.280 --> 0:08:54.320 of what we would call, you know, leading questions because 0:08:54.320 --> 0:08:57.160 you're dealing with a six year old girl. At the time, 0:08:57.400 --> 0:09:00.000 it was recorded in the doctor's notes that she's said, 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:05.080 quote Patrick put his penis in me down there. Sarah 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:08.240 maintains that is not what she said, and that at 0:09:08.280 --> 0:09:11.720 the hospital she was only asked who is Patrick to 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:15.640 which she responded essentially that he was her family member. 0:09:16.200 --> 0:09:20.360 When NOPD detectives were called in, Sarah was also questioned 0:09:20.360 --> 0:09:21.880 without a family member present. 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:25.040 Thank you, Kelly. So now Patrick, could you tell us 0:09:25.080 --> 0:09:27.600 about what your experience was when you arrived at the 0:09:27.600 --> 0:09:29.560 hospital that day with Sarah's mother. 0:09:30.360 --> 0:09:32.200 Me and Kaji arrive at the hospital to get it. 0:09:33.120 --> 0:09:37.240 And when I got there, I passed the room the 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:41.520 examination room, and I seen family members in the room 0:09:42.120 --> 0:09:47.720 with Sarah to the part to where when the detectives 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:50.240 and then came out of another room and brought me 0:09:50.280 --> 0:09:54.439 into it. Was questioned me about it and basically questioned 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:59.280 me about you know something that happened to the victim. 0:10:00.440 --> 0:10:02.080 And it was asked me a question. 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:04.360 By do I know anything about it? And no, I 0:10:04.400 --> 0:10:06.520 don't know. That's why I'm here at the hospital try 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:10.000 to find out what is the problem. 0:10:09.360 --> 0:10:12.440 At this At this time, mister Brown is completely cooperative 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:16.480 with the police and wants to know who hurt this 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:19.880 little girl that he loves and takes care of, and 0:10:20.440 --> 0:10:24.439 so he is not at all thinking like a suspect. 0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:26.760 He submits to various testing. 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:27.800 He waived his. 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:30.720 Rights to an attorney and his right to remain silent 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:34.400 and spoke to detectives without an attorney, where he denied 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:36.760 allegations that he had raped Sarah. 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:40.720 I went out to the police station with him and 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:44.360 was in a room where Raeric coroper with him as 0:10:44.360 --> 0:10:46.960 to answering a lot of questions to the part to 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:49.160 where they asked me, did I actually do the crime? 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:52.280 And I think I could just tell her this, lamb, 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:55.719 I don't know nothing about it. The more I know 0:10:55.840 --> 0:10:58.040 about it is what y'all telling me right now. And 0:10:58.240 --> 0:10:59.600 I don't know nothing about it. 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:00.480 None of that. 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:06.040 However, based on the statements that Sarah made, or rather 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:10.680 was alleged to have made two doctors that day, mister 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:15.080 Brown was arrested on the charge of aggravated rape. 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:23.560 It was something unspeakable, you know, it's really speakable to 0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:26.199 well get you off for something that you didn't do, 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:30.080 that did actually putting this charge on me. 0:11:31.080 --> 0:11:35.920 But some kind of way that everything parted at me 0:11:36.080 --> 0:11:39.880 for some reason. I don't know why, because maybe I 0:11:39.880 --> 0:11:42.439 probably do know why, because the way I was through, 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:45.560 the type of person I was, and that side of 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:47.160 the family didn't really want me to. 0:11:47.120 --> 0:11:53.760 Be with their daughter. But like I said, she was 0:11:53.840 --> 0:11:55.240 my soldier. She was my everything. 0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:58.320 You know, I would protect car. I would lose my 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:21.040 life to give hers and the kids. So I never 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:23.040 talked to nobody while I was in jail about it, 0:12:23.120 --> 0:12:24.800 but I was going back and forth to court with 0:12:24.880 --> 0:12:28.480 it and doing a pretrial investigation and all that is 0:12:28.559 --> 0:12:31.760 really really kind of hurtful because it was like, this 0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:35.400 is really actually happened. You know, you're taking me to 0:12:35.400 --> 0:12:39.280 the trial behind something I did not do. And where 0:12:39.440 --> 0:12:42.959 is the evidence because I ain't seen evidence at all, 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:45.640 because I know they're supposed to do a rape kit 0:12:45.720 --> 0:12:48.560 and all that, and didn't no rape kit, and didn't 0:12:48.600 --> 0:12:52.599 no joining the blood, and did nothing to take down evidence. 0:12:52.600 --> 0:12:54.400 DNA and did not that. 0:12:56.720 --> 0:12:59.760 After he was arrested, he was given a two hundred 0:12:59.760 --> 0:13:03.040 and if the thousand dollars bond. His family could not 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:06.400 afford the roughly thirty thousand dollars that it would have 0:13:06.480 --> 0:13:09.880 cost him to pay a bail bondsman, so mister Brown 0:13:09.920 --> 0:13:12.360 spent more than nine months in jail waiting to go 0:13:12.440 --> 0:13:16.600 to trial. His family also could not afford an attorney, 0:13:16.880 --> 0:13:20.720 so Robert Jenkins, an attorney from the Orleans Parish Indigent 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:24.679 Defender Panel, was appointed to represent mister Brown. 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:26.800 Can you give us a rundown of the details of 0:13:26.840 --> 0:13:31.439 the trial? December thirteenth, nineteen ninety four. Who was the judge, 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:32.920 the name of the prosecutor? 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:38.120 Absolutely so. Mister Brown went to trial in Section A 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:41.480 of Orleans Parish Criminal District Court in front of Judge 0:13:41.480 --> 0:13:45.400 Morris Reid. The prosecutor on the case was David. 0:13:45.080 --> 0:13:48.240 Wolfe, and the district Attorney at the time was the 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:52.720 notorious Harry Connick Senior, who headed up the Orleans Parish 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:56.560 DA's office from nineteen seventy three to two thousand and three. 0:13:56.960 --> 0:14:00.439 Jason's covered some of the many wrongful convictions that occurred 0:14:00.559 --> 0:14:04.560 under Connick's watch on this podcast. His office was known 0:14:04.600 --> 0:14:09.040 for withholding and suppressing evidence. In fact, the Innocence Project 0:14:09.080 --> 0:14:13.600 of New Orleans estimates that during his tenure, favorable evidence 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:17.120 was withheld in the trials of one in four men 0:14:17.440 --> 0:14:18.400 sent to death row. 0:14:19.360 --> 0:14:23.320 The trial started that evening with opening statements and it 0:14:23.360 --> 0:14:27.440 concluded the next day. We don't actually know the full 0:14:27.560 --> 0:14:30.840 extent of what happened during the trial, because, as mister 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:34.040 Brown learned over the nearly thirty years that he fought 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:38.040 his conviction since his direct appeal no trial's transcript has 0:14:38.080 --> 0:14:41.880 actually been made available. When the case was reopened by 0:14:41.920 --> 0:14:45.120 the District Attorney's office in twenty twenty three, we still 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:50.600 could not find a transcript despite many, many, many efforts. However, 0:14:50.720 --> 0:14:53.680 what we do know is that the whole trial lasted 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:56.200 about a day and a half from the time of 0:14:56.320 --> 0:15:00.800 jury selection to the time a verdict was delivered, which, 0:15:00.880 --> 0:15:04.640 when you think about it, is deeply concerning considering the 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:08.480 mandatory sentence for aggravated rape at the time and still today, 0:15:08.880 --> 0:15:12.120 is life without the possibility of parole Kelly. 0:15:12.520 --> 0:15:17.480 Who testified in the trial and whose behalf did they 0:15:17.520 --> 0:15:18.160 testify on. 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:22.600 Zarah was twice brought into the court to testify, and 0:15:22.720 --> 0:15:25.400 twice her nose started to bleed as soon as she 0:15:25.440 --> 0:15:29.160 took the stand and questions began, which was something that 0:15:29.240 --> 0:15:31.840 was really common for her at the time whenever she 0:15:31.920 --> 0:15:36.359 was in a very stressful situation, and so she was dismissed. 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:41.080 No accommodations were made for her to testify in private, 0:15:41.400 --> 0:15:45.840 and instead the state called doctor Wilcox to testify in 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:49.800 her place, and recalled doctor Wilcox was the first physician 0:15:49.960 --> 0:15:51.160 to examine her. 0:15:51.520 --> 0:15:55.520 The child being questioned in front of the whole court 0:15:55.560 --> 0:15:58.320 instead of the judges chambers, Like, what is your opinion 0:15:58.360 --> 0:16:02.520 on that. I mean, it's obviously so traumatic and stressful 0:16:02.560 --> 0:16:06.000 to the child that they're having this physical reaction after 0:16:06.040 --> 0:16:11.200 being raped. It just seems that the victim wasn't being 0:16:11.240 --> 0:16:11.600 thought of. 0:16:12.280 --> 0:16:16.040 I completely agree. I think, you know, cases like this 0:16:16.120 --> 0:16:22.200 are really tough because we keep courtrooms public for really 0:16:22.240 --> 0:16:26.560 important reasons, to make sure that crucial decisions in our 0:16:26.720 --> 0:16:31.360 justice system that carry serious consequences that compromise people's liberty 0:16:31.360 --> 0:16:36.520 interests do not happen in private, and when witnesses testify 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:41.840 juries are empowered to make a decision about that witness's credibility. So, 0:16:42.680 --> 0:16:46.280 to answer your question, I think there's a tension because 0:16:46.600 --> 0:16:49.800 we want to make sure that people are safe. We 0:16:49.840 --> 0:16:52.000 want to make sure that children who have been harmed 0:16:52.000 --> 0:16:56.720 are not re traumatized, but we also have to ensure 0:16:57.360 --> 0:17:01.760 that the Constitution is followed, that liberty interests are not 0:17:01.920 --> 0:17:06.439 compromised in private. That being said, I do believe that 0:17:06.440 --> 0:17:10.880 accommodations could have been made to make Sarah more comfortable 0:17:11.040 --> 0:17:15.560 and less stressed, and that is crucial here because as 0:17:15.600 --> 0:17:18.200 we know, as Sarah has told us in the decades 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:22.240 since this happened. She did not say what doctor Wilcox 0:17:22.359 --> 0:17:25.520 alleged that she said, and so had she had the 0:17:25.600 --> 0:17:30.240 opportunity to testify, she would have been able to say 0:17:31.000 --> 0:17:34.480 the truth. She would have been able to testify that 0:17:34.560 --> 0:17:38.520 she did not accuse Patrick of rape, and that was 0:17:38.560 --> 0:17:41.600 a very crucial fact for the jury to have. Instead, 0:17:41.760 --> 0:17:43.480 adults testified for her. 0:17:43.920 --> 0:17:47.480 And instead, what did the jury hear from doctor Wilcox. 0:17:48.880 --> 0:17:53.639 Doctor Wilcox testified to what was in what was recorded 0:17:53.680 --> 0:17:58.120 in his notes that Sarah had told him that Patrick 0:17:59.040 --> 0:18:02.280 put his penis in me down there, a statement that 0:18:02.320 --> 0:18:05.399 we now know and knew at the time had the 0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:08.879 police disclosed it, that was not was what was actually 0:18:08.920 --> 0:18:11.639 said in the doctor's office. So they were able to 0:18:11.680 --> 0:18:15.960 introduce the doctor's report with no scrutinity with this statement 0:18:16.200 --> 0:18:19.320 that never got to be cross examined. So what happened 0:18:19.359 --> 0:18:22.119 then is she never got a chance to tell her story. 0:18:22.760 --> 0:18:28.600 So the jury convicts mister Brown of aggravated rape in Louisiana. 0:18:28.720 --> 0:18:31.959 Age of the victim as an aggravating factor, and she 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:34.680 was six years old at the time that she was raped, 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:37.240 so he was sentenced to Manna's story life without the 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:42.000 possibility of parole, and was sent to the Louisiana State 0:18:42.040 --> 0:19:05.400 Penitentiary at Angola. 0:19:07.000 --> 0:19:11.919 The hardest part being incarcerated is that you lose a 0:19:11.960 --> 0:19:16.439 family member while you're in now, and I lost several 0:19:16.480 --> 0:19:17.280 family members. 0:19:18.200 --> 0:19:20.640 My mom, she went to three open. 0:19:20.359 --> 0:19:26.119 House surgeries while I was incarcerated, and some people that 0:19:26.200 --> 0:19:30.560 really loved me, like my grandmother, my aunt's cousins, they 0:19:30.640 --> 0:19:32.160 passed away while I was incarcerated. 0:19:32.160 --> 0:19:34.920 And that's the hardest part to where. 0:19:34.480 --> 0:19:36.919 They didn't want let you go out, to go to 0:19:37.000 --> 0:19:41.520 any funerals or none of that, and with the type 0:19:41.520 --> 0:19:46.160 of charge that they placed me on, you know, kind 0:19:46.200 --> 0:19:49.440 of restrict me from everything to where at a certain 0:19:49.480 --> 0:19:51.840 age I had to see my daughter once she get older, 0:19:53.160 --> 0:19:55.160 and any one of my family members, they can't come 0:19:55.160 --> 0:19:56.000 in as a child. 0:19:57.600 --> 0:19:59.080 Those certain things I couldn't do. 0:19:59.160 --> 0:20:02.800 I couldn't go around certain people, certain jobs I can't 0:20:02.840 --> 0:20:04.560 have because of the charge. 0:20:05.960 --> 0:20:11.720 I'm incredibly sorry that you experienced that. That must have 0:20:11.800 --> 0:20:15.240 been so hard to be stigmatized like that, and for 0:20:15.320 --> 0:20:16.640 something you did not do. 0:20:18.680 --> 0:20:20.639 From the time my cuceration, you know, I had to 0:20:20.680 --> 0:20:22.720 try to make it work for me. 0:20:23.640 --> 0:20:24.040 I had to. 0:20:25.560 --> 0:20:27.240 Due to the times that and let the time do 0:20:27.320 --> 0:20:30.159 me so at the time I was in there, you know, 0:20:30.200 --> 0:20:33.840 I educated myself. I become a better person, becomes a mentor, 0:20:34.640 --> 0:20:37.479 and I'm becoming helping a lot of people out there 0:20:37.520 --> 0:20:43.160 at a GOOLA even down to from the Oufenity security staff. 0:20:44.640 --> 0:20:46.480 To where I got to know them and they got 0:20:46.480 --> 0:20:48.439 to know me, and they see that I'm not a 0:20:48.440 --> 0:20:49.240 really bad. 0:20:49.040 --> 0:20:53.760 Person, you know, from that part from being that goal 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:57.440 of being it's separing criticism from a lot of dudes 0:20:57.480 --> 0:21:00.480 that's around now. Really nothing really came hurt me no 0:21:00.600 --> 0:21:06.560 more because I'm all crowd out from that and anything 0:21:06.640 --> 0:21:09.359 that's not positive, I just don't want to be around it. 0:21:10.000 --> 0:21:12.320 But on my coaster that you know, they had dues 0:21:12.400 --> 0:21:14.600 there and they were going through a lot of things 0:21:14.640 --> 0:21:18.840 that they need mentor that he talked to and especially 0:21:18.920 --> 0:21:23.240 that's what I did. At one point in time in 0:21:23.280 --> 0:21:26.000 my life, I did lost hope. I did lost I 0:21:26.080 --> 0:21:28.600 hope to where I wouldn't come home, I wasn't gonna 0:21:28.600 --> 0:21:31.960 be with my family again. And I had looted in 0:21:32.000 --> 0:21:37.280 my mind to not be a commodity to the system 0:21:37.320 --> 0:21:40.560 to where you're just holding me there and collecting money 0:21:40.560 --> 0:21:43.800 off of me, and I'm doing this and doing that 0:21:43.840 --> 0:21:47.960 to keep a prison function to where dang I ain't 0:21:47.960 --> 0:21:50.800 had them a hope because you know it ain't goal 0:21:50.880 --> 0:21:55.000 inside of prison. Contraband comes and goes in there, and 0:21:55.160 --> 0:21:58.359 the most dealy contraband that they had in there was 0:21:58.400 --> 0:22:04.000 that fit now, and that fit now into the prison 0:22:04.080 --> 0:22:06.399 to where I did wanted to take that just the 0:22:06.600 --> 0:22:09.159 end this life because I didn't want that type of 0:22:09.200 --> 0:22:13.520 life inside of a system behind something I did not do. 0:22:13.560 --> 0:22:15.640 And then you know, when I got there, dude, say 0:22:15.800 --> 0:22:21.840 life mean lock in forever. Man, I ain't no going home. 0:22:21.960 --> 0:22:23.960 The next place I would be was a party. Lookout, 0:22:24.119 --> 0:22:29.920 mister penitentious cemetery. That's what I was gonna be. Never 0:22:30.000 --> 0:22:31.160 still going to be incocerated. 0:22:32.200 --> 0:22:33.760 What kept you going? Patrick? 0:22:33.960 --> 0:22:35.000 What gave you hope? 0:22:35.760 --> 0:22:39.399 My family kept coming. It's fishing me talk to my 0:22:39.480 --> 0:22:42.359 daughter every day on the phone. My daughter was a 0:22:42.359 --> 0:22:45.680 month and eight days old when I got arrested. From 0:22:45.720 --> 0:22:48.560 that time, she was just a baby. She don't know 0:22:48.600 --> 0:22:50.720 nothing about the charge. And she fought for me too. 0:22:51.960 --> 0:22:56.000 She fought to keep me well, I keep hope going. 0:22:57.160 --> 0:23:00.639 She wanted her daddy. That kept me going down with 0:23:00.680 --> 0:23:03.280 my heart. She kept me going, she kept me fight, 0:23:04.480 --> 0:23:07.679 ca me find this to be with them, so she 0:23:07.680 --> 0:23:09.080 could have a fault in our life. 0:23:11.000 --> 0:23:14.879 So if you could, Kelly, speak to uh, if you 0:23:14.960 --> 0:23:18.639 recall when you first heard about mister Brown's case, what 0:23:18.800 --> 0:23:22.439 stood out to you like as a human and what 0:23:22.800 --> 0:23:25.160 drew you to essentially work on the case and kind 0:23:25.160 --> 0:23:28.600 of like how your relationship started those early days. 0:23:28.840 --> 0:23:32.680 So I got a call on March twenty fourth of 0:23:32.760 --> 0:23:37.119 twenty twenty three from the District Attorney's office, Jason William's office. 0:23:37.160 --> 0:23:40.960 It was specifically from Assistant District Attorney Emily maw who 0:23:41.040 --> 0:23:44.679 is the head of the civil rights division in the office. 0:23:45.200 --> 0:23:47.520 And I was asked if I was available to come 0:23:47.560 --> 0:23:51.439 in immediately, and I was told that a young woman 0:23:51.800 --> 0:23:55.800 had just come into their office and had essentially said 0:23:55.800 --> 0:23:58.720 that the wrong person was in prison for raping her. 0:23:59.520 --> 0:24:02.040 That's a pretty extraordinary call to get. You don't often 0:24:02.080 --> 0:24:05.600 say no when a district attorney's office calls you as 0:24:05.640 --> 0:24:08.359 a defense attorney and says we think we have someone 0:24:08.359 --> 0:24:10.880 in prison who shouldn't be there. I didn't need much 0:24:10.880 --> 0:24:11.840 more information than that. 0:24:12.240 --> 0:24:15.560 Yeah, wow, So what did they tell you when you 0:24:15.600 --> 0:24:17.440 got to their office. 0:24:17.160 --> 0:24:20.880 On that day. What we knew is that in two 0:24:20.920 --> 0:24:25.200 thousand and two, when Sarah was fourteen years old, was 0:24:25.240 --> 0:24:28.520