JACKSON, Miss. — Former death row inmate Kennedy Brewer spent 15 years behind bars for the abduction, rape and strangulation of his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter.
Now another man has been charged with capital murder in the 1992 slaying and Brewer is out of jail. That doesn’t mean he’s in the clear.
Prosecutors aren’t yet convinced that Brewer was not involved in the brutal slaying even though the DNA of another man was apparently found on Christine Jackson’s battered little body.
Brewer, who was 22 at the time of the killing, was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in 1995. He was released last August based on the new DNA evidence, but he was only set free on bond pending a new trial.
His attorney, Carrie Jourdan, said Brewer is trying to pick up where he left off.
“He’s gainfully employed. He’s working and he’s living with his elderly, disabled mother, who he assists in taking care of,” Jourdan said. “He has had no problems from a criminal legal standpoint” since his release.
In the meantime, 51-year-old Justin Albert Johnson was arrested this week and charged with capital murder and sexual battery of a child under the age of 14.
An attorney working on Brewer’s case said DNA clears Brewer of the crime and implicates Johnson. Sperm found on the body was analyzed by two different laboratories and both said the DNA was “a perfect match to Johnson,” said Vanessa Potkin, a staff attorney with New York-based Innocence Project, a nonprofit organization that tries to free wrongly convicted prisoners.
Attorney General Jim Hood said Johnson was arrested Monday at his home in Brooksville.
Johnson was arraigned Tuesday, pleaded not guilty and is being held without bond at the Chickasaw County Jail. It was not immediately clear if Johnson had obtained an attorney.
Johnson was a suspect early on and a blood sample was taken from him just days after the murder, Potkin said. It was sent to the Mississippi State Crime Laboratory, where it was preserved for more than a decade, she said.
“He was right there from the beginning,” Potkin said.
But, she said, investigators focused on Brewer instead because he was the only male in the house the night of the disappearance.
The child was the daughter of Brewer’s girlfriend. She disappeared from their home while the mother and other children slept on the night of May 2, 1992, Potkin said. Her body was found in a body of water in rural Noxubee County a few days later.
Brewer spent well over a decade in various prisons and jails, including death row at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. He was released on bond last year pending a new trial after his attorney and the Innocence Project pushed for an appeal of his conviction based on DNA testing.
In June 2001, Jourdan said she had received confirmation from Reliagene Technologies in New Orleans that DNA proved that semen found on the child’s body was not Brewer’s.
The Mississippi Supreme Court in 2002 denied Brewer’s request for a new trial but granted a hearing before a Lowndes County judge after the DNA evidence was presented. The judge ordered a new trial. Brewer was released on bond.
Potkin said it was Johnson who should have been behind bars all along.
The charges against Brewer are still pending.
Jourdan was hesitant to say too much Thursday when contacted by The Associated Press.
“This is a murder trial that is still pending,” Jourdan said. “Of course we are hopeful that this will have a positive effect on the case, but that’s all I can say at this time.”
Hood said prosecutors are looking closely at Brewer’s case.
“If we find that he is fully exonerated then we will move quickly to remove those charges,” Hood said.
When asked Thursday if prosecutors still believe Brewer was involved, District Attorney Forrest Allgood said he needs to review the newest information before commenting.
Allgood has recused his office from the case because one of Brewer’s former lawyers now works for the district attorney, Hood said. Hood’s office will likely prosecute Johnson.
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