The case caught the attention of a crime blogger named D.K Sale. Sale started to investigate the case and found that there was evidence that proved Adam Braseel was innocent. There were altering witness statements that were lying on how Adam became a suspect in the first place. Sale also discovered that the motive of the stolen wallet wasn’t even true. The wallet wasn’t stolen and was in the dead man’s pants and was recovered by the Grundy County Sheriff Sgt. Mike Brown (the first officer at the scene).
The DA’s motive was destroyed but the DA Steve Strain didn’t let Brown testify. They still argue that Braseel was the killer despite the wallet. Additionally, the TBI retested a fingerprint found on the murder victim's car and ti was a match for a convicted cop-killer Kermit Bryson. The only evidence was from Adam bras eel being identified by photo lineup. And once they had the match with the fingerprint, they should have released Braseel from jail, but they kept it a secret for months.
Finally, with the overwhelming evidence, the DA agreed to release Braseel, but not until he agreed to felony assault. Now, Braseel is a convicted felon with no voting rights for assaulting a man he never met.
Braseel is now free, but his life has been destroyed. Braseel shares, "I worked at UPS. I would have topped out at $29 an hour. That's monetary. I lost everything I own, everything. I even lost my wife, my best friend, you know my family we've suffered more than you can imagine."
Side by side comparison of Adam Braseel and Kermit Bryson (fingerprint match)
It shocks me that I have never seen or heard about this before. This case reminds me of what could have been the after math for Nick Hillary. It shows us the harsh reality of our world. I think it is unfair that prosecutors likes Strain and Fairstein would try to cover up their mistakes. It is honestly ok to admit a mistake, but instead they feel the need to take away people's lives. This is why organizations like the Innocence Project are important. They save people's lives and also their futures.
ReplyDeleteI believe that cases like these are very interesting because without a ton of evidence, the police have to be very careful and picky about what they are looking at. However, it doesn't seem that they paid that much attention to detail, which is why this innocent man was sent to jail. There's no doubt that police officers do their job properly or to the best of their ability. However, there are many situations where innocent people are being accused of something that they didn't do. I think that once he was set free, he shouldn't have had to agree to the felony because they now know that he didn't do it. Because he still had to agree to it, it was left on his conscious, so he couldn't have a proper future.
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DeleteI agree that Braseel shouldn't have had to agree to felony assault because of the overwhelming evidence showing that he is innocent. However, I don't agree with the claim that police officers do their job to the best of their ability. In many cases, police officers and members of the legal system will be unethical and not do their job to the best of their ability in order to protect themselves or reach a goal. In this case, members of the legal system did not allow Mike Brown to testify in order to get the conviction they wanted. They also made Braseel agree to felony assault in order to protect themselves and deny liability. If the police hadn't made Braseel maintain that he was guilty of felony assault, he could potentially file a lawsuit against DA Steve Strain or the DA's office for not allowing Mike Brown to testify. This case has similarities to the Central Park 5 case we saw in "When They See Us." In the Central Park 5 case, Korey refused to admit guilt for something he didn't do despite the possibility of benefits or a shorter sentence. Korey was ultimately acquitted of his crimes and given financial compensation because he did not admit to crimes he didn't commit.
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