Dale Brison

The Crime

Shortly after midnight on July 14, 1990, a 37-year-old woman was walking home from a convenience store in Oxford, Pennsylvania when she was approached from behind. The assailant put one hand on her throat, one on her waist, and forced her to walk with him. The assailant stabbed her in the side as they were walking and she briefly lost consciousness. 

When she came to, they were near bushes by an apartment complex, where he sexually assaulted her. 

The Investigation

The victim accompanied police on several trips throughout the neighborhood in an attempt to locate her attacker. On one of the trips, she saw a group of people and believed that one of them was the perpetrator. However, when the police and the victim drove by for a second look, the man was gone.

About two weeks later, the victim saw the man a second time. The victim and a friend went to the police station. The friend knew that the man was 27-year-old Dale Brison. 

On July 28, 1990, Mr. Brison was arrested and charged with rape, kidnapping, aggravated assault, carrying a prohibited offensive weapon, and three counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse. 

The Trial

Prior to trial, Mr. Brison sought DNA testing, but the request was denied. On June 3, 1991, he went to trial in Chester County Court of Common Pleas. The victim identified him as her attacker.

Debra Fertal, a forensic scientist for the Pennsylvania State Police, testified that a hair sample recovered from the victim’s underwear “exhibited characteristics that were similar to the characteristics in Dale Brison’s standard head hair.”

Mr. Brison denied committing the crime and testified that he had been home watching television. His mother also testified that she had been with him at the time of the crime.

On June 5, 1991, the jury convicted Mr. Brison on all the charges. He was sentenced to 18 to 42 years in prison.

The Exoneration

Mr. Brison appealed. On Dec. 10, 1992, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that DNA testing should be performed if evidence had been maintained and the semen stain from the victim’s underwear was not too degraded. 

After the case was remanded and DNA testing was performed, the laboratory reported that no result could be found from the vaginal swab, but testing on the spermatozoa found in the semen stain on the victim’s underwear excluded Mr. Brison. The district attorney’s office obtained further testing and the results were the same: Mr. Brison was excluded as the source of the DNA.

On Jan. 14, 1994, Mr. Brison’s conviction was vacated and the charges were dismissed. He was released after serving two and a half years of his sentence. 

Mr. Brison later filed a federal civil rights lawsuit that was unsuccessful when the judge ruled in favor of the defendants.