Man Locked Away 14 Years Without Trial

Floyd Brown, a North Carolina man with mental disabilities, spent 14 years in North Carolina jails and mental facilities awaiting trial on a murder that he always said he didn’t commit.

Because a judge ruled he was not competent to stand trial, Brown was never tried but was locked away in a Raleigh mental hospital.  DNA testing wasn’t possible because the local sheriff’s office lost the evidence.  Lawyers were finally able to secure his freedom after one of his doctors at the hospital testified that he didn’t have the mental capacity to make the statement police claimed he made in confessing to the crime. Brown’s attorney, Kelley DeAngelus explained the problems of the confession to CNN. 

In the confession, Brown allegedly stated his address, even though, according to DeAngelus, he didn’t know where he lived. The confession also quoted Brown as saying he awoke at 6 a.m., even though he couldn’t accurately tell time.

The charges against Brown were dismissed in October 2007, and he was placed in a group home that December.

Brown currently lives with a full-time caretaker and is employed as a janitor.

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Watch CNN’s coverage below.