Brandon Moon

The Crime

At about 9:30 a.m. on April 27, 1987, a 32-year-old woman was sexually assaulted in her home in El Paso, Texas, by a man wearing a stocking mask and a hat. 

Afterwards, the victim, identified as D.M., put on her son’s robe and drove to a local store, where she asked the staff to contact the police. She was taken to the hospital where a rape kit was collected. 

The Investigation

The day after the attack, D.M. went to the police station and helped police create a composite sketch. The next day, she viewed a photographic array that included a picture of 25-year-old Brandon Moon. She said that Mr. Moon looked like her attacker, but she couldn’t be sure. Police obtained a warrant and arrested Mr. Moon on May 1, 1987.

The following day, D.M. viewed a live lineup and identified Mr. Moon as the assailant after all the subjects put on a hat similar to the one worn by the perpetrator. Mr. Moon was the only person in both the photographic and live lineup procedures. 

Two other women who had been raped in recent days were also contacted by the police to view a lineup. They both identified Mr. Moon.

Mr. Moon was charged with three counts of aggravated sexual assault for the rape of D.M.

The Trial

In December 1987, Mr. Moon went to trial in El Paso County District Court. 

The victim testified that she was able to remember her assailant’s face structure, physique, body size, nose, complexion, and hands. She could not, however, tell police the color of his eyes or if he had a mustache due to the dark interior of the room and the short amount of time she had to view her assailant.

The prosecution also relied on the testimony of a Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) serologist who had tested the rape kit and bedding taken from the scene of the crime and compared the results to samples from Mr. Moon, D.M., D.M.’s husband, and D.M.’s son. He testified that the semen recovered from the evidence was deposited by a non-secretor — one whose blood type antigens are not found in other body fluids — and that the husband and son were both secretors. Mr. Moon, a non-secretor, could not be eliminated as a suspect 

The prosecution was allowed to introduce the testimony of one of the other victims that had identified Mr. Moon. Both crimes, according to the prosecution, were similar enough and distinctive enough to point to the same perpetrator. 

The defense claimed that Mr. Moon was misidentified and presented evidence that Mr. Moon was excluded as a source of all of the hairs recovered. 

Mr. Moon, a student at the University of Texas El Paso, testified that he was on the university campus at the time of the crime. Mr. Moon’s girlfriend testified that she had phoned him less than an hour before the crime occurred and had met him at 9:15 a.m.

The defense presented evidence that Mr. Moon had no car and could not have had the time to get from the campus to the scene of the rape.

On Jan. 14, 1988, Mr. Moon was convicted on three charges of aggravated sexual assault. He was sentenced to 75 years in prison.

The Exoneration

After his conviction, Mr. Moon began filing motions to have the evidence sent for DNA testing. In 1989, DNA testing was performed and excluded him as the source of the semen on the bedspread. Although he was excluded, the profile obtained was never compared against those of the victim or her husband and son. Mr. Moon petitioned for more testing on the sample using more advanced technology and asked for the profile to be compared to the victim’s. This motion was denied.

However, in 1996, further testing was conducted by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS). Results were similarly limited because reference samples were never submitted, although the laboratory requested the samples.

In 2001, after Texas passed a statute allowing for post-conviction DNA testing, Mr. Moon filed a motion seeking further testing. The El Paso Public Defender’s Office was appointed to represent him and the motion was granted. The evidence was sent to a DPS lab in El Paso in October 2002. 

The testing excluded Mr. Moon as the contributor of the biological evidence in all samples. The laboratory found that two male profiles were identified. One was on the comforter on which the rape took place, and one was on the bathrobe the victim put on after the attack. 

Further review of the results in 2004 confirmed that the victim’s son was excluded as a source of the samples. In November 2004, the victim’s ex-husband was located and consented to having his profile compared to the profiles found by DPS. Testing confirmed that he was the source of the semen on the comforter. The male DNA profile on the robe remained unidentified.

The testing showed that the serologist made several mistakes in his analysis. On Dec. 21, 2004, an El Paso County District Judge recommended that Mr. Moon’s writ of habeas corpus be granted and his convictions be vacated. Mr. Moon was released from prison that day.

On April 6, 2005, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted the writ and vacated Mr. Moon’s convictions. The case was remanded to the El Paso County District Court where the prosecution dismissed the charges.

In 2006, Mr. Moon filed a federal civil rights lawsuit seeking compensation. After a lengthy legal battle, the case was dismissed in February 2021.