Victims of the State
BRA - BRI

Name Index

Marcellius Bradford - See Roscetti Four

Patrick Bradford, an Evansville police officer, was convicted of murdering Tammy Lohr, 24, a woman with whom he had been having an affair. The evidence shows that Bradford could not have committed the crime. Tammy worked at the county jail, and a more logical suspect is a corrections coworker who was fired for hitting inmates and sexually harassing Tammy. The coworker ranted that he would get even with Tammy if it was the last thing he ever did. A later review of this individual's court activity suggested that the prosecution needed him to testify in some cases and for that reason they were not willing to regard him as a suspect.  (TruthInJustice) (48 Hours)  [11/05]

Ted L. Bradford was convicted of rape after police contended he confessed following an 8-hour interrogation. The perpetrator had worn a nylon stocking over his head and had covered his victim's face with a mask. The victim had described the perpetrator as 6' tall while Bradford is 5'7". In the confession, Bradford said no children were present in the victim's home, when in fact the victim's infant child wailed throughout the attack. Bradford served a 9-year prison sentence, but did not stop professing his innocence. In 2007, the DNA profile of another unknown man was found from skin cells left on the mask. A court overturned Bradford's conviction, making Bradford the first person in Washington State whose conviction was overturned because of DNA evidence. The state plans to retry him. According to a prosecutor, even though Bradford faces no additional prison time, it is important to make him register as a sex offender. Bradford also faces a $600,000 judgment owed to the victim and her husband, who sued him in 1996.  (Seattle Times)  [10/07]

Keith Renard Bradley was convicted of murdering Miriam Leeks and sentenced to life in prison. Leeks, a 37-year-old homeless woman, was found bludgeoned to death in a wooded area off of Willtown Road in Adams Run, SC. Her body was wrapped in garbage bags and sheets. Bradley's conviction was due to the testimony of two incentivized witnesses which contradicted testimony of the witness who reported the murder and who had no known incentive for coming forward. All the other evidence in the case was exculpatory of Bradley.
Read More by Clicking Here

Anthony E. Bragdon was convicted of assault with intent to rape Coranda Farmer. Bragdon was released on parole in the summer of 2002 after serving 10 years in prison. His conviction was overturned in March 2003 because FBI forensic technician, Michael Malone, had falsely testified that carpet fibers he found on the alleged victim's clothing were traceable to Bragdon's apartment.  (FJDB) (Bragdon v. Malone)  [7/05]

(Federal Case)  Thomas M. Bram was sentenced to death for murdering three people aboard a ship on the high seas. The crime occurred about 2 a.m. aboard the Herbert E. Fuller, a cargo ship that was 750 miles into a voyage from Boston to Argentina. The victims were the captain, Charles I. Nash, his wife, Laura A. Nash, and the second mate, August W. Blomberg. All were hacked to death with an ax in the after house of the ship.
Read More by Clicking Here

Lamont Branch was convicted of shooting to death Danny Josephs, 37, in 1990. Branch's brother, Lorenzo later admitted responsibility for the shooting. Branch was freed in 2002.  (NY Times)  [10/05]

Clarence Lee Brandley, a black man, was accused of raping and strangling 16-year-old Cheryl Dee Ferguson, a white girl, in the high school where he worked as a janitor. Ferguson was a member of a visiting Bellville volleyball team. The prosecution's case was built on the premise that there were five janitors who had opportunity to commit the crime, and the other four (who were white) provided alibis for each other. The sperm evidence recovered from the victim's body was destroyed prior to trial. A fresh spot of blood was found on the victim's blouse that had a blood type other than the victim and Brandley. The defense would only later learn that Caucasian hairs that did not match the victim were found upon her body – a fact that was extremely exculpatory of Brandley. One of the arresting officers had told him, “We need someone for this. Since you're the nigger, you're elected.”

Brandley's first trial resulted in a hung jury, but Brandley was convicted at his second trial and sentenced to death. His story was reported by 60 Minutes in 1987. On the night before his scheduled execution, Centurion Ministries brought forward an eyewitness who named two of the white janitors and vindicated Brandley. Brandley was freed in Jan. 1990 and is the subject of the book White Lies by Nick Davies.  (CM) (PC) (CWC) (JP)  [7/05]

William Branson was convicted of the murder of William Booth. It was alleged that Branson, 23, was improperly intimate with Mrs. Anna Booth, 32, the victim's wife. Branson had been seen on numerous occasions some months before the murder talking to Mrs. Booth as she stood on the front porch of her house in Willamina while he was on the sidewalk outside of her yard. There were several witnesses who claimed they saw Branson and Mrs. Booth going in the direction of the murder location separately (not together) before the time of the murder.

The victim was killed with .38 caliber gun and Branson had borrowed a .38 caliber gun from his uncle for a fishing trip two months before the murder. Branson said the gun later went missing from his house along with some jewelry. Witnesses testified the killer wore a black or dark blue jersey with a black hat, while evidence indicated Branson wore a red sweater and no hat on the day of the murder. The soil near the victim's body showed the killer wore hob-nailed shoes while Branson reportedly wore smooth shoes.

In May 1917, another man, William Riggin, gave a confession to the crime, a confession that was later fully corroborated. In 1920, Oregon Governor Olcott granted Branson an unconditional pardon.  (Why Some Men Kill or Murder Mysteries Revealed) (MOJ)  [8/09]

Franz Bratuscha was convicted of the murder of his 12-year-old daughter, Johanna. On April 16, 1900, she disappeared from her home in Majsperk, Slovenia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Bratuscha reported her disappearance to the police. About 9 weeks later he read in a newspaper that the body of a dead girl was found in Spielfeld, Austria, a town 26 miles to the north. Bratuscha went to Spielfeld and when police showed him the dead girl's clothes, he identified them as belonging to his daughter. He told police he had bought the fabric out of which the clothes were made and offered to bring the leftover portion of the fabric. Police were satisfied that the dead girl was his daughter and they gave him the clothes.
Read More by Clicking Here

Clarence Bruce Braunskill was convicted of selling cocaine based largely on a tape recording of a seller's voice and an undercover detective's testimony. Braunskill's brother, Leonard, tracked down the real drug seller and Braunskill was freed. Braunskill was awarded $850,000 for 8 years of wrongful imprisonment.  [10/05]

Mark Diaz Bravo was convicted of raping a psychiatric patient at a hospital where he worked as a nurse. The patient at first identified several suspects, then settled on Bravo. Bravo was also victimized by incorrect/outdated lab results and the failure of counsel to pursue his strong alibi. The DA spent years fighting efforts by Innocence Project to gain access to biological evidence, but after access was granted, DNA tests exonerated Bravo.  (IP) (CBJ)  [6/05]

Kennedy Brewer was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of three-year-old Christine Jackson, the daughter of his live-in girlfriend. Christine had been taken from her home in the early morning hours and found dumped in a creek. An intruder could have entered the home through a broken window. Brewer was the boyfriend of Gloria Jackson, the victim's mother. Christine had been sleeping on a makeshift pallet of sofa cushions at the foot of the couple's bed. In the morning, the couple discovered that Christine was gone. Two other children were present in the home.
Read More by Clicking Here

Thomas Brewster was arrested in 1995 for the 1984 murder of Terry Arndt, 18, and the sexual assault of his teenage girlfriend. Brewster spent two years in jail awaiting trial. The female victim did not identify Brewster at the time of the assault. In 1994, the investigator of the case was promoted to a position that allowed him to reactivate the case. He assigned the case to another investigator who got the female victim to identify Brewster in a 1995 lineup. Eight weeks into Brewster's capital murder trial, DNA test results arrived which exonerated him of the crime and charges were dropped.  (Sacramento Bee)  [11/05]

Joseph Briggs was sentenced to death for the murder of wholesale cigar dealer Hans Peterson. The murder occurred during an armed robbery of Peterson's shop at 774 West Lake Street in Chicago. Two eyewitnesses, who failed to identify Briggs initially, identified him as the perpetrator in court. A third witness identified him a having been to the store the day before. This witness identified him at a police station, but only after asking a desk sergeant, “Which one is Briggs?” At trial, Briggs had several witnesses who testified that he had been in a saloon at the time the prosecution contended the crime occurred. In Dec. 1905, the Illinois Supreme Court overturned Briggs' conviction because the trial court refused to allow evidence that impeached the credibility of the prosecution witnesses. On retrial, Briggs was acquitted.  (CWC)  [12/05]

Daniel L. Bright III was convicted of the robbery and murder of Murray Barnes. The crime occurred on Super Bowl Sunday outside Creola's bar at 2904 Laussat Street. Barnes had just collected $1,000 in the bar's Super Bowl pool. Bright was sentenced to death. The only evidence that served to convict him was the testimony of Freddie Thompson. Bright's conviction was overturned after it was noted that Thompson was very drunk on the day of the crime and that the prosecution failed to disclose that Thompson was a convicted felon and in violation of his parole. The prosecution dropped all charges against Bright in 2004.  (IPNO)  [3/06]

Gregory Bright and Earl Truvia were convicted of murdering 15-year-old Elliot Porter. The convictions were based solely on the testimony of a witness, Sheila Caston, who claimed that she had seen the pair dragging the victim around the corner of a building in the housing project where they all lived. The jury never heard from the coroner, who would have testified that the time of death did not coincide with the time that the Caston claimed she saw the victim. Nor did the jury know that Caston was a paranoid schizophrenic who suffered from auditory and visual hallucinations and had several aliases, one of which she used at trial. Caston medicated her mental illness with heroin and gave police information in exchange for cash. The pair's convictions were overturned in 2002 because of Caston, and also because the state had withheld a police report describing alternate suspects. Charges against Bright and Truvia were dropped and they were released in 2003.  (Ford) (IPNO1) (IPNO2) (TruthInJustice)  [10/05]

A security guard at the Sears store in Lincoln Park stopped a woman leaving the store on April 15, 2002 with $1,300 in unpaid merchandise. In an attempt to get away, the woman severely bit the guard. After being arrested, the woman was taken to a police station where she told police her address, her phone number, that she was 15-years-old, and that her name was Dominique Brim. She was allowed to leave without being booked.

Two weeks later, 15-year-old Dominique Brim was charged with retail fraud and felony assault. She claimed she had not been at the store on April 15 and that she had not been arrested. In court, several Sears employees, including the security guard, identified her as the person who was apprehended and who bit the guard. The judge did not believe Brim's mistaken identity defense and convicted her on both counts.

However, Brim's vehement claim that she was the wrong person did impress Sears officials enough to review their store videotape of the April 15 incident. They discovered that Brim was not the person who was involved in the incident. After the prosecutor and Brim's lawyer were contacted, the judge vacated her conviction before she was sentenced. The woman on the tape was later identified as Chalaunda Latham. She was not 15-years-old, she was 25. Latham was able to pass herself off as Brim because she was a friend of Brim's sister. Prosecutors decided not to charge Latham because the Sears employees had already given sworn testimony that Brim was responsible for the theft and security guard assault.  (Justice: Denied)  [3/07]

Doug Brinkman - See Tobias Five

Johnny Briscoe was convicted of rape and burglary after the assailant told the victim his name was John Briscoe. The assailant, who apparently was an acquaintance of Briscoe named Larry Smith, also called the victim several times following the attack, while police were still present, identifying himself as John Briscoe. The calls were traced to a payphone near Briscoe's apartment. The victim identified Briscoe as her assailant in a photo lineup and in a live lineup. A search of the physical evidence by Centurion Ministries turned up a cigarette butt smoked by the assailant, which was found to contain Smith's DNA. Briscoe was released in 2006. Smith is serving a life sentence for a separate sexual assault at the same apartment complex involved in Briscoe's case.  (IP) (KSDK 5) (CM)  [12/06]

Dale Brison was convicted of raping a 37-year-old woman and sentenced to 18 to 42 years imprisonment. The victim identified Brison at trial. DNA tests exonerated him after he served 3 1/2 years of his sentence.  (IP) (CBJ)  [8/05]

Coke and John Brite, brothers, were convicted of the murders of deputy sheriffs Martin Lange and Joseph Clarke, as well as the murder of Captain Fred Seaborn, a U.S. Navy officer. The Brites, who were gold prospectors, returned to a cabin on their rented land, where their parents stayed, and then headed out again. At nightfall they set up camp on the land of a neighbor, B. F. Decker, and went to bed. Two intruders then entered their camp, another neighbor, Charley Baker, and his friend, Fred Seaborn. At trial, Baker alleged they were looking for a strayed horse that Baker owned. It was later learned that Baker had been using the cabin on the Brites' property for rent-free storage and had motive to drive the Brites from their land. Baker and Seaborn picked a fight with the Brites, which proved to be a mistake as the Brites made quick work of them. Baker then went to a judge and talked him into issuing warrants charging the Brites with assault.
Read More by Clicking Here