After 29 years of being wrongful convicted for an offence he never committed, one Patrick Brown has been released from prison.
49-years-old Brown who hails from Louisiana was convicted in 1994 of raping his then six-year-old stepdaughter.
The victim, a minor as at the time of the incident did not testify at Brown’s trial immediately assault happened.
Eight years after the incident in 2002, the victim repeatedly asked for the case to be reviewed, insisting Brown wasn’t her attacker, but the case was not investigated again until recently.
Reacting to the development, Orleans Parish District Attorney, Jason Williams, in a statement, said, “It is incredibly disheartening to know that this woman was dismissed and ignored, no matter how inconvenient her truth, when all she wanted was the real offender to be held responsible.
According to him, “When someone is wrongfully convicted, not only is it an injustice for the person who has years of their life stolen, but it is an injustice for the victim and the people of New Orleans because the real perpetrator is left to harm others.”
Against this backdrop, the office asked the court to vacate Brown’s conviction and Judge Calvin Johnson presided over a hearing on Monday.
Brown was later released from prison same day.