Just four months after Levon Brooks was sentenced to life in prison for the assault and murder of a three-year-old in Brooksville, Mississippi, another young girl was similarly assaulted and killed nearby. Kennedy Brewer was convicted for the second murder. Both men were found guilty based largely on the testimony of forensic dentist Michael West, who claimed that bite marks on each of the victims “matched” Levon and Kennedy’s teeth — and for years, that was the end of the story.
Levon Brooks at age 17 before he was wrongfully convicted, and in 2017 after he was exonerated. Images courtesy of Gloria Williams.
Bite mark comparisons are unreliable at best, and faulty forensics played a role in 46% of cases of DNA exonerees. While working to exonerate Kennedy, the Innocence Project learned of Levon’s case, and it was clear that the nearly identical crimes were likely committed by the same person. Levon, who had been sentenced to life, was not entitled to appointed counsel to challenge his conviction after direct appeal. When the Innocence Project reached out to Levon in 2006, he had resigned to spend his life inside.
The DNA evidence ultimately pointed to a third man, Justin Albert Johnson, who eventually confessed to both crimes but denied biting the young girls, further undermining West's purported "bite mark" match. Levon walked free in 2008, but not before spending 16 years at Mississippi State Penitentiary, known as Parchman, a former plantation entrenched in a legacy of racial violence that continues today.
Levon passed away from cancer at the age of 58 — just 10 years into his freedom. We’re grateful to the team at Netflix for bringing his story to a global audience and to his family for participating.
The Innocence Project exonerates the wrongly convicted through DNA testing and reforms the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice. www.innocenceproject.org
