a man who was unjustly accused of murdering his wife died in the USA
Joe Bryan and Mickey Bryan
photo from the family archive
In the USA, 84-year-old Joe Bryan died – a man who was sentenced to 99 years on the charge of murdering his wife, which he did not commit.
He served 33 years behind bars and fought all the time to be found innocent. writes The Washington Post.
The history of the couple
Joe Dale Bryan and his future wife Mickey Blue first met as children, but lost touch. They rebuilt it when they were in their master’s programs.
The couple married in 1969, and later moved to the town, where the husband got the position of principal of a high school.
The tragedy happened on October 14, 1985. A few days before, 25-year-old Joe went to a conference in Austin, 120 miles from home.
On the day of the tragedy, at about 9 p.m., Joe Bryan called his wife, who stayed at home.
“I said, ‘I love you, see you tomorrow.'” She said, “I love you too. See you tomorrow.” But it didn’t happen“, – mentioned man in an interview with ABC news.
Details of the murder
The body of Joe’s wife, Mickey Bryan, was found the next morning (October 15, 1985) in their bedroom.
She was shot four times with a .357-caliber handgun, loaded with pellets that the couple kept in the house to defend against rattlesnakes and copperheads in their yard.
Investigators didn’t have much evidence: no witnesses, no shoe prints or tires.
The case revolved around the suggestion that Mr. Bryan escaped from his hotel, drove home, committed the murder, and returned to Austin in time for an 8:30 a.m. meeting at a teacher’s conference. Prosecutors cited “reimbursement of his wife’s life insurance policy” as the motive.
Mr Bryan was arrested eight days after Mickey Blue’s death. The key piece of evidence was a flashlight found in the man’s car with traces of blood of the first group – the same as that of the deceased. And also – and tiny plastic particles on the lens, which, according to forensic experts, had “similar substances”.
The defendant’s lawyers claimed that Mickey Bryan often held a flashlight in her hands and proved that the first blood group is the most common.
The evidence of innocence used by the defense was a cigarette butt found on the kitchen floor of the couple’s home. After all, none of them smoked.
Court verdict
In March 1986, the man was found guilty of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to 99 years in prison.
But about two years later, the judge was dismissed. Then the judicial panel came to the conclusion that the judicial process was violated. One of the key points was the judge’s refusal to reopen the case, because the value of Mickey’s life insurance policy turned out to be much lower than the prosecution claimed.
At a retrial in June 1989, Mr. Bryan was again convicted and the sentence was renewed. The Texas Innocence Project’s appeals for a new trial have been denied again.
“All existing legal avenues to prove Joe’s innocence have been exhausted“, the court said.
In prison, Joe Bryan’s health deteriorated over the decades. He was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and a pacemaker was installed.
In 2016, the Texas Medical Examiner’s Commission, in response to a complaint by the Texas Innocence Project, determined that testimony in Bryan’s case regarding blood tests was “completely unreliable.” But in 2019, the state’s senior chief judge again rejected a full DNA analysis of the old evidence. Some members of the deceased’s family supported this decision.
However, on March 31, 2020, Mr. Bryan was released from a maximum security prison in Huntsville. He was awarded parole.
Despite the fact that the man was never completely exonerated, he hoped that his “saga” became a lesson for others.
“If you are truly innocent, never stop proving it. Keep going because the only way to fix a corrupt justice system is to keep fighting it“, he said.
On September 22, at his home in Houston, Joe Bryan died a day after his 84th birthday.
