Netflix's The Innocence Files: The true cases of Levon Brooks, Kennedy Brewer and more

Netflix
Charlie Duffield16 April 2020

Netflix has just launched another true crime docuseries - albeit this time with no tigers in sight - called The Innocence Files, which uncovers terrifying flaws in the American criminal justice system.

There are eight episodes, each revealing the personal story of a man falsely convicted for crimes he had nothing to do with.

The Oscar-winner Alex Gibney is one of the directors at the helm, and it's based on the non-profit legal organisation The Innocence Project, that tries to free those wrongly convicted through DNA testing.

In the TV series, each case is told in meticulous detail, supplemented by Nineties America archive footage and moving scenes of the innocent men finally being freed.

Here's a round-up of all the cases featured on the show:

Netflix: The Innocence Files

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Levon Brooks

Brooks served 16 years in prison and was convicted for capital murder and sexual battery

In the 1990s, three-year-old Courtney Smith was taken from her bedroom window in the middle of the night, raped, and murdered - and the only witness was her five-year-old sister.

Despite this, Brooks was deemed culpable due to bite mark evidence.

He was exonerated in March of 2008, and sadly died of cancer ten years later aged 58.

Kennedy Brewer

In 1992 three-year-old Christine Jackson was taken from her home in the middle of the night, raped, and murdered. At the time Brewer was dating the victim’s mother.​

Brewer was convicted for the rape and murder of the toddler, just two years after a near identical crime in the same county sent another innocent black man - the aforementioned Levon Brooks - to prison based just on bite-mark evidence.

Instead of considering they may have arrested the wrong man, authorities attributed this second death to a copycat killer. It was only after the Innocence Project looked into Brewer's case, that Brooks' case was re-examined.

His case prompted The Innocence Project to fast-track cases relying on bite mark evidence, and in February 2008 all charges against Brewer were dropped and he was exonerated.

Keith Allen Harward

It was the middle of the night in 1982, and a strange man broke into the home of Teresa Perron in Newport, Virginia. He murdered her husband, then raped her, and all she could recollect of the villain was that he was a sailor.

Harward served 33 years in prison for murder and sexual assault despite not matching the assailant’s described height.

All the evidence against him comprised of bite marks and the testimony of a guard who claimed he was wearing a bloody uniform when he returned to base.

He was freed in April 2016, and the real culprit, Jerry Crotty, was later arrested.

The Innocence Files was released on Netflix on April 15
Netflix

Franky Carrillo​

Carillo's case is especially shocking; he was convicted of murder and six counts of attempted murder following the death of Donald Sarpy in 1991.

Sarpy was known to be friends with gang members but was well respected. Six witnesses argued that 16-year-old Carrillo murdered him to gain clout in the ganglands.

Carillos served 19 years in prison before he was exonerated in March 2011.

He then filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles, which was later settled for $10.1 million.

Thomas Haynesworth

Haynesworth was 18 years old and with no criminal record when he was convicted for raping Janet Burke at knife point in Richmond, Virginia in 1984.

Four other white women were attacked in a similar manner over the next month, and Burke claimed to recognised Haynesworth face as the culprit.

But after his arrest, the crimes continued; the rapist, known as the Black Ninja, always targeted white women.

Incredibly, when Haynesworth was released in 2011 he forgave his accuser and both of them travel nationwide, campaigning for DNA testing and against the reliability of eye witness testimony.

The Innocence Files is made up of eight episodes detailing different cases
Netflix

Chester Hollman III

In Philadelphia in 1991, 24-year-old Tae Jung Ho was robbed and shot to death, and it was alleged the shooter drove a white Chevrolet Blazer with four people in it.

Hollman's clothing wasn't a match with the shooter, but his car was, so he was arrested for second degree murder and robbery, and served 25 years in prison.

It turns out Hollman's passenger at the time, Deirdre Jones, gave a false testimony as police urged her to co-operate or face charges herself.

She later retracted her testimony, and The Innocence Project discovered that one of the prosecution’s main witnesses also had a lengthy criminal record. Hollman's charges were dismissed in July 2019.

Alfred Dewayne Brown

Brown served 10 years in prison for capital murder after a shopkeeper was shot and killed during a robbery of a cash-checking store in Houston, Texas, in April 2003.

He claimed to have been sleeping at his girlfriend’s house during the time of the shooting, but those involved in the robbery denied this and said he was the murderer.

There was no DNA evidence pinning the crime to Brown, and there was no gun residue. His grand jury trial also failed to meet basic requirements.

He was found innocent in May 2019.

Kenneth Wyniemko

In April of 1994, a man broke into a woman’s home in Clinton, Michigan while she was sleeping​.

The criminal apparently wore a nylon stocking on his head and masked and blindfolded her, so she couldn't accurately see him - but she was made to sketch her attacker.

Based on this drawing, the police arrested Wyniemko, but none of the plentiful DNA evidence was ever tested.

Eventually after nine years in prison, his conviction was overturned in June 2003.

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