VOW TO RECTIFY LIFE TERM REVEALED

2 Men Say Judge Plans to Fight Sentence He Issued in Minor Probation Case

Two people who have met with a Dallas judge say he has promised to
seek termination of a life sentence he handed down for a teenager
who, while on probation for a $2 armed robbery in which no one was
hurt, tested positive for marijuana once.

Dallas NAACP president Bob Lydia said Judge Keith Dean made the
pledge in a meeting Monday with him and lawyer Frederick "Rick"
Russell. Mr. Russell has not responded to interview requests from The
Dallas Morning News but agreed that the promise was made, according
to a memo the newspaper obtained with an open-records request.

"I ... have every confidence that Judge Dean will fulfill his word,"
said the memo, which was addressed to Mr. Lydia and also given to the
Dallas County district attorney's office. "Judge Dean is an
extraordinary man who I believe now recognizes that justice did not
prevail." The judge has not responded to requests for comment about
the matter, which has gained national attention. By Tuesday
afternoon, Mr. Lydia and the Texas parole board said they had
received nothing in writing from Judge Dean. Mr. Lydia said he has
been trying for months to help free Tyrone Brown and was working with
Mr. Russell at Judge Dean's urging. "The judge said, 'He's going to
guide you every step of the way,' " the NAACP leader recalled. State
records show that Mr. Russell asked the parole board for
commutation-related paperwork seven months ago but never returned any
completed forms.

Mr. Lydia said the lawyer didn't want to do anything that might put
pressure on the judge during his re-election campaign, which he lost
last month. Even now, Mr. Russell seems determined to keep the
situation as quiet as possible. "Unofficial pressure or media
exposure with the object of expediting Tyrone's release will not be
effective," said his memo, dated Monday. Mr. Brown's mother, Nora
Brown, said that no one told her Judge Dean had recommended Mr.
Russell. She also said she resented being told to avoid upsetting the judge.

"I'm the one who's upset," she said. "Tyrone's the one who's upset."
The News brought Mr. Brown's case to light in April and contrasted it
with another from Judge Dean's court - one in which a killer on
probation repeatedly tested positive for cocaine and was not
punished. Last month, ABC's 20/20 also reported on the cases,
inspiring outraged viewers to start a Web site and letter-writing
campaign. District Attorney Bill Hill further turned up the heat on
the judge, a fellow Republican, with a Nov. 30 letter to Gov. Rick Perry.

In it, Mr. Hill said that Judge Dean "contacted my office about this
case several months ago, shortly after The Dallas Morning News ran a
story about it. Dean told me that he wanted Brown to receive a time
cut, but that he did not want to be the one to initiate it.

"I told Dean that I would join with him in requesting a time cut, but
that he should be the one to initiate it because he was responsible
for the sentence." The judge's subsequent failure to do anything, Mr.
Hill added, made him feel "compelled to take action."

If the judge follows through, the parole board would have to
determine whether he and the district attorney have made a sufficient
case for commuting Mr. Brown's sentence. The toughest requirement is
that they present facts "in existence, but not available to, the
court or jury at the time of the trial."

In a letter to the parole board Monday, Mr. Hill asked that the
sentence be cut to the 16 1/2 years Mr. Brown has served. Mr. Hill
offered no new facts but pointed out that prosecutors "did not
recommend a life sentence and could not have anticipated that the
presiding judge would impose such a penalty." Judge Dean talked about
meeting the factual requirement by citing abuse that Mr. Brown
suffered as a child, Mr. Lydia said.

The parole board's top lawyer, Laura McElroy, said it's not clear
whether such arguments would pass legal muster.

"It's stretching it," she said, then added: "If it can be stretched,
we'll stretch it."

The reason, she said, is that Mr. Brown's life term is the worst
example she has seen of a judge overreacting to a probation
violation. "It's legal," she said. But "nobody likes this. Nobody
thinks this is fair. .. Everybody's really concerned about it and
paying big attention to it." If the parole board recommends commuting
the sentence, the governor will make the final decision. Mr. Brown
could seek a pardon if the commutation request fails, Ms. McElroy said.

In the case The News contrasted with Mr. Brown's, John Alexander
"Alex" Wood shot an unarmed prostitute in the back and pleaded guilty
to murder. He got the same initial sentence as Mr. Brown - 10 years
of deferred-adjudication probation - and repeatedly tested positive
for cocaine, among other violations. But Judge Dean did not punish
him; eventually, he even let him quit taking drug tests and meeting
with a probation officer. When they were put on probation, neither
offender had an adult criminal record. But Mr. Wood, unlike Mr.
Brown, came from a wealthy, well-connected family and had top-flight
legal counsel. He is free today, with no conviction on his record.

Judge Dean, Dallas County's longest-serving felony court jurist, has
previously declined to discuss the two cases. He will leave office at
the end of the month.