| First Name | Leon |
| Last Name | Brown |
| Year of Conviction | 1984 |
| Year of Exoneration | 2014 |
| Testing inculpated culprit | Cold Hit |
| State of Conviction | North Carolina |
| Trial, Bench Trial, or Guilty Plea | Trial |
| Type of Crime | Rape and Murder |
| Death Sentence | Yes |
| Gender of Exoneree | Male |
| Race of exoneree | Black |
| Juvenile | Yes |
| Mentally Ill or Intellectually Disabled | Intellectually Disabled |
| Types of evidence at trial |
|
| Were non-public facts alleged? | Yes |
| Examples of Non-Public or Corroborated Facts and Inconsistencies | ● Victim was raped, vaginally and anally ● Victim choked with panties balled up in a knot in her mouth (consistent with what medical examiner found) ● Victim left in ditch near woods and across bean field ● Victim’s clothes had been balled up and thrown into the woods BUT Excluded by fingerprints found on beer cans |
| Quotes from law enforcement testimony | Officer described telling Brown “I wanted to go over it because it was his statement, it was not mine… I read each line… I stopped at least 20 times and paused an asked him if that was correct, if that was right…” |
| Quotes from prosecution arguments | “We know that the stick was broken in [the victim’s] neck because we found part of the stick still remaining in her throat, wrapped in the panties.” “The lawyer stood up here and argued to you that the officers, by some sort of foul means, pulled this confession out of these two defendants. Is that what their evidence is? Their evidence is that they never made a statement of any kind and that the officer just sat down and made up these statements… Now, come on folks. They must think you were born yesterday to swallow something like that." |
| Interrogation Recorded | Written signed statement |
| Jailhouse informant, Co-defendant, Incentivized Witness | IW |
| Highest level reached | Appeal |
| Claims Raised During All Appeals and Postconviction |
|
| Claims granted, resulting in preexon. reversal |
|
| Citations to judicial opinions | State v. McCollum, 364 S.E.2d 112 (NC 1988) |