Help Sherwood Brown

On August 24th, 2021, Sherwood Brown, a man who was wrongly convicted and incarcerated for 28 years — 22 of them on Mississippi’s death row — was released from prison and exonerated.

In 1995, when DNA testing was still in its infancy, Mr. Brown was convicted for the murders of three women. No DNA testing was conducted at that time. In 2012, his lawyers successfully petitioned the Mississippi Supreme Court for access to the old physical evidence so that it could be DNA tested. The testing results showed that Mr. Brown had no connection to the crimes, and that the State’s case, as presented in the 1995 trial, was highly flawed. As a result, in 2018, the Mississippi Supreme Court reversed his convictions and death sentence. Afterwards, the State initially sought to re-try Mr. Brown. But after further investigating the case – including conducting several additional rounds of DNA testing, the results of which were consistent with the earlier testing results – the State dismissed the case.

Mr. Brown’s exoneration ends one era of his life, but it also starts a new one. Easing Mr. Brown’s re-entry into the free-world and working to ensure his success going forward is a tall task. Mr. Brown, along with his pro bono lawyers and social worker and others, have been preparing for this moment for months already. In the short period of time since his release, Mr. Brown has been provided safe (but temporary) housing, clothing and basic medical care. Ahead of him lie the challenges of permanent, affordable housing, job training, mental and physical health care and so many others.

To aid Mr. Brown, we are asking for your support. His continued success is a costly undertaking. Other than a small amount of emergency funding that he has used to purchase basic necessities, he has a long and expensive road ahead of him. Mr. Brown has the continued support of his pro bono legal team, which has provided social work services and the basic structure – temporary housing, clothing, food – for his new life. Our goal is to raise at least $50,000. These funds will be used for direct support of Mr. Brown, and will be placed in a trust account that will be managed by his social worker to ensure they are put to the best possible uses for Mr. Brown.

 
photograph by Christina Marie Steube