After spending 29 years in prison for the rape of his stepdaughter, a New Orleans man is free thanks to the help of the local district attorney\u2019s office and testimony from the victim herself, who has insisted for 20 years that he is not the man who raped her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Patrick Brown was convicted of raping his 6-year-old stepdaughter in 1994 after pleading not guilty in a trial in which the victim did not testify \u2013 instead, adults testified \u201cto what they believed she had said,\u201d according to a release from the Orleans Parish District Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since 2002, the stepdaughter had repeatedly asked the DA\u2019s office to review the case and prosecute the actual perpetrator, the release said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The office\u2019s civil rights division opened an investigation into the victim\u2019s case, found that the evidence corroborated her account and asked the court to rectify the case, according to the release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis victim has endured not just the deep trauma of child sexual assault, but the trauma of knowing the wrong man has been imprisoned for almost three decades while the man who raped her walked free,\u201d said Civil Rights Division Chief Emily Maw. \u201cThis is a very sad case, but we are hopeful that this will bring some closure to the victim and that she, and Mr. Brown, can move forward in healing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brown was released from prison Monday, immediately following the decision of the criminal district court, delivered by Judge Calvin Johnson, to vacate his conviction. The victim was present and testified, according to the release and court records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CNN has reached out to Brown\u2019s attorney, Kelly Orians, for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cListening to and truly hearing survivors of sexual assault is a top priority in this office,\u201d Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams said in a statement. \u201cIt is heart-wrenching to know that this woman was dismissed and ignored, no matter how inconvenient her truth, when all she wanted was for the real offender to be held responsible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Williams launched the civil rights division in part to \u201creview cases of wrongful convictions and excessive sentences,\u201d his office\u2019s website reads. The division has intervened in 284 cases since 2021, boasting an estimated $266 million in taxpayer savings on lifetime incarceration, according to the DA\u2019s office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Orleans Parish has 7.92 more exonerations per capita than the national average \u2013 the highest per capita rate among US counties with over 300,000 people, according to the National Registry of Exonerations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A 2022 report from the registry says innocent Black Americans are seven times more likely than White Americans to be falsely convicted of serious crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An effort to overturn these wrongful convictions across the country has led to the creation of units like the civil rights division in Orleans Parish, dedicated to preventing and remedying false convictions. The National Registry of Exonerations tracked 44 such units across the country with recorded exonerations as of June 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBeing progressive and reckoning with the sins of the past directly affects present-day public safety,\u201d Williams said in a statement. \u201cWhen 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 in our community to harm others.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n