Althouse: "It was Joyce Ann Brown’s great misfortune that long before the 1980 robbery and murder that altered her life forever..."

June 19, 2015

"It was Joyce Ann Brown’s great misfortune that long before the 1980 robbery and murder that altered her life forever..."

"... she had been arrested on an unrelated charge. It was her greater misfortune to have been working for a furrier at the time the crime occurred. But as things played out, it was her greatest misfortune of all simply to have been named Joyce Ann Brown...."

From "Joyce Ann Brown, Shackled by Her Name to Another Woman’s Crime, Dies at 68."

9 comments:

Humperdink said...: Sad commentary on the Dallas DA and his methods.

I suppose it helps to have such an odd name as Humperdink to avoid such confusion.; 6/19/15, 7:48 AM
William said...: The young man who was with Michael Brown at the time he was shot also had a record of giving false statements to the police. Joyce Brown got screwed over by people who, by reason of prejudice, wanted to convict her. Ditto Officer Darren Wilson......You can claim that Wilson didn't go to prison, but he lost his job and has to spend the next few years worrying about somebody with voices in their head trying to off him......... People act on their prejudices, and different people have different prejudices. But we are more prejudiced against some prejudices than others.; 6/19/15, 8:21 AM
Curious George said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/19/15, 9:01 AM
Curious George said...: Curious George said...
Hardly a "name" issue. They knew she was a different person.; 6/19/15, 9:19 AM
Robert Cook said...: "Sad commentary on the Dallas DA and his methods."

One can hardly assume such cases are unique to Dallas. Such circumstances and practices exist in every city and courthouse in the land, to greater and lesser degree in each particular locale.; 6/19/15, 9:50 AM
JackOfVA said...: In Heaven you get justice; on earth you get the law.; 6/19/15, 11:25 AM
Humperdink said...: Good and hard.; 6/19/15, 2:12 PM
Michael K said...: That's an interesting story although I don't believe racism had much to do with a prosecution in 1980.

I also do not trust "60 Minutes" to tell me the time of day. I know two people who are subjects of that program and both programs were lies. Its the "Gell Mann amnesia effect" all over again.

I think prosecutors are subject to over-enthusiasm.; 6/19/15, 11:00 PM
Etienne said...: The moral of the story is, that only an idiot would talk to a detective without a lawyer present. There's a reason they tell you that you have the right to remain silent until a lawyer is found. There's never any rush. Take your time.; 6/21/15, 3:58 AM