Exonerated

Kennedy Brewer

Spotlight case — not a Xonorate client

15 years

Lost

Mississippi

Noxubee County

Murder (most serious crime), with additional convictions for Rape and Kidnapping; contemporaneous coverage and the Innocence Project describe the conviction as capital murder and sexual battery, entered March 24, 1995.

Conviction

15 years

Incarcerated

7 years

On death row

8 years

In jail awaiting trial (per the Registry)

Age at the date of the reported crime

1st

Person exonerated by post-conviction DNA testing in Mississippi

1995

Year convicted

2008

Exonerated (February 15)

“a perfect match to Johnson.”

Case intelligence

The facts, the evidence, the open questions.

The facts, evidence, developments, and unanswered questions surrounding this case.

The story

In the early morning hours of May 3, 1992, three-year-old Christine Jackson -- the daughter of Kennedy Brewer's girlfriend, Gloria Jackson -- was abducted from her home in Noxubee County, Mississippi, raped and murdered; her body was found two days later in a creek about 500 yards from the home. Brewer, who had been babysitting Christine and her two younger siblings that night, was arrested and, after three years in jail awaiting trial, was convicted in March 1995 and sentenced to death almost entirely on bitemark testimony from dentist Dr. Michael West. DNA testing in 2001 excluded Brewer and, after a later Innocence Project investigation matched the DNA to another man who then confessed, Brewer was exonerated on February 15, 2008 -- the first person exonerated through post-conviction DNA testing in Mississippi.

What we know

Conviction, 1995

Death

Sentence

Mississippi

State

Noxubee

County

Black

Race / ethnicity

Male

Sex

Age at time of crime

Yes

DNA evidence involved

What raises questions

False or misleading forensic science -- specifically bitemark testimony by Dr. Michael West, who was brought into the case by state medical examiner Dr. Steven Hayne. West testified that marks on the child's body were human bitemarks made by Brewer's two upper front teeth; the marks were later determined to be insect bites. The Registry also lists Perjury or False Accusation and Official Misconduct as contributing factors. Police suspicion of Brewer rested largely on the fact that he was home that night and there was no sign of forced entry.

Perjury or false accusationFalse or misleading forensic evidenceOfficial misconduct

The evidence

Evidence of innocence

DNA excluded Brewer

In 2001, DNA testing on sperm recovered from the three-year-old victim excluded Brewer as the source.

DNA matched another man

The unidentified male DNA profile matched Justin Albert Johnson. Two separate laboratories analyzed the sperm evidence and reported the match, per NBC News and the Innocence Project.

Johnson's confession

Johnson confessed to Christine Jackson's murder and to the 1990 murder of Courtney Smith, and told investigators he acted alone in both crimes.

Broken window undercut the state's theory

A broken window near where the child slept could have provided a point of entry for an intruder, undercutting the state's 'no forced entry' theory.

Johnson's history and proximity

Johnson was the only suspect with a history of sexually assaulting women and girls, and was living near the Jackson home at the time of the murder and near the Smith home at the time of that murder.

Newly discovered evidence

2001 post-conviction DNA results

DNA testing that was unavailable or untested at trial was performed in 2001 and excluded Brewer.

2007 investigation identified the true perpetrator

The Innocence Project and Mississippi Attorney General investigation matched the crime-scene DNA profile to Justin Albert Johnson, an original suspect.

Johnson's post-arrest confession

Johnson confessed to both child murders after his arrest.

Discrediting of Hayne and West

The work of Dr. Steven Hayne and Dr. Michael West, and their close relationships with prosecutors, later became highly controversial, as noted on the Registry's Levon Brooks page.

The companion Levon Brooks case

The near-identical 1990 murder case against Levon Brooks, also built on Hayne/West bitemark testimony, showed a pattern of the same flawed forensic evidence producing wrongful convictions in the same county.

Due-process violations

Official misconduct and false accusation

The Registry's Case Details box lists 'Official Misconduct' and 'Perjury or False Accusation' among the contributing factors.

Three years in jail before trial

Brewer waited roughly three years in jail before his trial began in March 1995.

Five more years jailed awaiting a retrial that never came

After DNA overturned his conviction in 2001 and it was vacated the following year, the prosecution announced it would retry him but did not move the case to trial for a full five years, during which he remained jailed.

Conflicts of interest in the DA's office

Conflicts of interest in the Noxubee County District Attorney's office required the 2007 appointment of an outside special prosecutor, Ben Creekmore of Oxford, Mississippi.

Unreliable evidence

Bitemark testimony from Dr. Michael West

West, a self-styled forensic odontologist and frequent paid prosecution expert, swore the child's body bore human bitemarks matching Brewer's two upper front teeth. The conviction rested almost entirely on this evidence.

Dr. Steven Hayne brought West into the case

Hayne, the medical examiner who performed the autopsy, called West in to analyze the marks -- the same pairing used against Levon Brooks.

The marks were insect bites

The purported bitemarks were later determined to be insect bites.

Bitemark comparison discredited

Bitemark comparison has since been widely discredited as a scientific discipline, and Hayne's and West's work was later condemned as shoddy.

Circumstantial 'no forced entry' inference

The state inferred Brewer must be guilty because he was home that night and there was no sign of forced entry.

Case timeline

1995
Conviction
Murder (most serious crime), with additional convictions for Rape and Kidnapping; contemporaneous coverage and the Innocence Project describe the conviction as capital murder and sexual battery, entered March 24, 1995.
2008
Exoneration
In 2001, DNA testing on sperm recovered from the victim proved Brewer was not the source and his conviction was overturned; it was vacated the following year and he was moved from death row to pre-trial detention. The prosecution said it would retry him, but the case sat untried for five more years. In 2007, because of conflicts of interest in the Noxubee County District Attorney's office, Ben Creekmore of Oxford, Mississippi, was appointed Special Prosecutor; he declined to seek the death penalty and did not oppose bail, and Brewer was released in August 2007. During retrial preparation the Innocence Project asked the Mississippi Attorney General's office to intervene, and DNA testing matched the unidentified 2001 profile to Justin Albert Johnson, 51, an original suspect with a history of sexual assaults who had lived near both victims. Johnson was arrested and confessed to Christine Jackson's murder and to the September 1990 rape and murder of three-year-old Courtney Smith, insisting he acted alone in both. On February 15, 2008, the prosecution dismissed the charges and Brewer was exonerated -- Mississippi's first post-conviction DNA exoneration.

Where it stands

Exonerated

In 2001, DNA testing on sperm recovered from the victim proved Brewer was not the source and his conviction was overturned; it was vacated the following year and he was moved from death row to pre-trial detention. The prosecution said it would retry him, but the case sat untried for five more years. In 2007, because of conflicts of interest in the Noxubee County District Attorney's office, Ben Creekmore of Oxford, Mississippi, was appointed Special Prosecutor; he declined to seek the death penalty and did not oppose bail, and Brewer was released in August 2007. During retrial preparation the Innocence Project asked the Mississippi Attorney General's office to intervene, and DNA testing matched the unidentified 2001 profile to Justin Albert Johnson, 51, an original suspect with a history of sexual assaults who had lived near both victims. Johnson was arrested and confessed to Christine Jackson's murder and to the September 1990 rape and murder of three-year-old Courtney Smith, insisting he acted alone in both. On February 15, 2008, the prosecution dismissed the charges and Brewer was exonerated -- Mississippi's first post-conviction DNA exoneration.

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Sources & records

Case information presented by Xonorate is based on available court records, case materials, reporting, and other documented sources.