Suffering without bitterness for victim of racial prejudice

By Peter Kimani

The sturdy man of average height speaks calmly and carefully, which bespeaks his theological training. Months before his release from the death row, where he spent ten years, Clarence Brandley was ordained a Baptist church minister.

Thirty one years ago, Brandley was a custodian in a school in the state of Texas, US, when Cheryl Ferguson, a 16-year-old blonde, was found raped and murdered.

On the face of it, all school staff had the same opportunity and motive to rape and murder, but Brandley had something they did not: He was black.

Pubic hair

"I was arrested. They took samples of my saliva and pubic hair, but that did not match any of their samples," he explained.

Without any physical evidence linking Brandley to the crime, one juror refused to convict him, resulting in a hung jury.

Clarence Brandley: "Bitterness can only destroy you. I have found forgiveness." [PHOTO: PETER KIMANI/STANDARD]

But Brandley’s second jury, once again all-white, convicted him and sentenced him to death in 1981.

Doubts about the conviction emerged a year later, when it was discovered all the evidence pertaining to the case had mysteriously disappeared from police custody.

In 1986, after five years on the death row, a witness emerged to claim he knew the real murderer, and voiced concerns that police were holding the wrong man.

An execution date had been set for March 27, 1987, and weeks away to the date, Brandley got a major boost when a top criminal lawyer joined his defence team.

As the cries for justice started gathering to an acclamation of innocence, it emerged the police had coerced other school staff to testify against Brandley.

The FBI decided to intervene when racism was uncovered in the two trials.

In October 1987, Brandley got his big break after a judge recommended a new trial.

Witness to Innocence, a lobby that has been fighting against death penalty in the US, says the judge who presided over the inquiry remarked: "In the 30 years that this court has presided over matters in the judicial system, no case has presented a more shocking scenario of the effects of racial prejudice…And public officials who lost sight of what is right and just."

Coke and burger

Brandley, who now advocates for abolition of death penalty is immortalised in White Lies a book by Nick Davies that has since been made into a film.

What kept him going? "My family support and the scriptures," he says easily.

And what did he do in his first hours of freedom? "I had a Coke and a burger," he smiles.

But injustice continues to stalk Brandley. A State compensation that bequeaths $80,000 (Sh8m) for every year served for everyone exonerated of a capital crime still eludes Brandley because the claim was not filed within the stipulated time.

He is yet to receive a penny from the state of Texas that stole ten years of his life, and consigned him to harrowing pits of despair.

Does he feel bitter? "Bitterness can only destroy you," he says calmly. "I have found forgiveness."