Judge overturns Florida man's murder conviction

Jet, June 2, 2003

Family and friends rushed in to fill the 12-year void in Timothy Brown's life once he was released from prison after a judge overturned his murder conviction and a bail bondsman donated money to have him released.

Brown, 27, who is mentally handicapped, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Broward County Deputy Patrick Behan, who was fatally shot while he sat in his patrol car outside a Pembroke Park convenience store, writing a report.

Brown's conviction was overturned in March when a federal judge determined that a jury would not have returned a guilty verdict based on evidence available today. U.S. District Judge Donald Graham also concluded that Brown never fully grasped his legal rights when he gave a confession to the Behan slaying.

The judge said that if prosecutors decide to retry Brown for the murder of Deputy Patrick Behan, the trial will begin June 23. If prosecutors don't retry Brown, he must be permanently freed without bond by June 25.

"It just feels good to be out," Brown said as he stepped out of jail to hug his stepmother and a pen-pal girlfriend he was meeting for the first time. "I'm going home to my family."

Brown's case had been working its way through a federal appeal until new evidence allegedly pointed to another suspect, former detention deputy Andrew Johnson. Recordings caught Johnson bragging last year to undercover officers posing as drug dealers that he killed Behan, giving details that matched physical evidence and witness statements.