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| Oklahoma Man Convicted of Murder to Be Let Go |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 10/15/2001 |
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A man convicted of a 1981 murder was expected to be released after DNA testing showed that hair found at the crime scene and used as evidence against him was not his. Prosecutors agreed at a hearing last week that Albert Wesley Brown should be released on Oct. 16. They will decide within six months whether there is enough other evidence to retry him. Brown, 39, has spent 18 years in prison on a life sentence for the murder of Earl Taylor, a retired firefighter who was bound, gagged and drowned in a lake. 'We feel confident that there won't be anything else that will tie Mr. Brown into the case,'' said Jim Bednar, executive director of the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System. During trial, prosecutors contended that hair in the gag in Taylor's mouth was linked to Brown. But new DNA analysis, conducted by an independent laboratory at the behest of defense lawyers, found the hair was not Brown's. An investigator also testified at trial that four hairs found in the trunk of a car driven by Brown were consistent with the victim's. The new DNA analysis also found that to be false. The hair was retested under a law that went into effect last year that allows defense lawyers for the indigent to investigate claims of innocence by state inmates. Brown was the first to apply. District Attorney Dianne Barker Harrold said Taylor's family was understanding about Brown's pending release. |
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