His conviction was overturned, however he could also be despatched again to jail – NBC New York
Andre Brown had his conviction overturned after serving greater than half of the sentence behind bars. However after three years of freedom, he could also be heading again to jail, except prime officers intervene.
Brown spent 23 years locked up after being sentenced to 40 years for 2 counts of tried homicide in 1999, however he at all times maintained his innocence. A Bronx decide overturned the conviction in 2022, citing ineffective help of counsel.
That allowed Brown, who skilled as a paralegal, to start a brand new life together with his spouse and two kids in Connecticut, the place he gave again to the group.
Think about being freed after practically twenty years in jail, solely to search out out it’s possible you’ll be going again behind bars due to a authorized technicality. That’s the tough actuality that confronted former inmate Andre Brown. However late Wednesday, there was one other sudden twist within the case. NBC New York’s Sarah Wallace reviews.
“I used to be in a position to come out, fortuitously, from that hell. And once I got here out, instantly I used to be in a position to work with justice-impact youth, from the ages of 16 to 24,” Brown stated.
However Brown’s world got here crashing in on Christmas Eve 2024, when the Appellate Division reinstated the conviction on a authorized technicality — which means he must serve the rest of the 40 years.
Brown was supposed to show himself in to Bronx Legal Court docket on March 14, however received a short lived reprieve by the district lawyer’s workplace when he filed a clemency petition with New York. Gov. Kathy Hochul. The victims’ households have opposed that petition, which remains to be being reviewed.
“There are three victims on this case, I’m the third sufferer nobody ever speaks about, as I didn’t commit this crime,” Brown instructed the I-Crew. “However placing that apart at the moment, I’m no threat to society.”
There’s appreciable urgency to get a solution quickly from the governor’s workplace: A brand new deadline for Brown to show himself in is on Friday.
Whereas the adjournment Bronx District Lawyer Darcel Clark agreed to runs out on Friday, Brown’s attorneys on Wednesday filed a movement asking for extra time to argue their case to the governor — and for the DA to re-sentence the previous inmate.
”What we requested Darcel Clark to conform to is to re-sentence Andre to the 23 years he’s already served,” stated Oscar Michelen. “In at this time’s society, we all know that locking individuals up and warehousing them for the remainder of their lives does nothing to make society safere. And Andre wouldn’t have gotten a 40-year sentence at this time for an tried homicide cost.”
The trouble has gotten assist from wrongfully convicted exonerees and the NAACP New York State Convention.
Brown’s face hid a jumble of feelings because the 48-year-old seemed on the courthouse on Wednesday the place he’s speculated to give up in two days to serve 17 extra years in jail, tearing aside his household.
“It’s actually scary understanding that the steel cuffs could return on, going again behind the bars, and finally leaving my household,” he stated. “I’m terrified. I’m really petrified of going again behind these partitions.”
The DA’s workplace stated they might not touch upon the matter. The case is slated to be heard in courtroom on Friday.
