TEXAN FREED 17 YEARS AFTER FAILING DRUG TEST

Case Raises Questions Over System's Fairness

By Brooks Egerton, The Dallas Morning News

HUNTSVILLE, Texas -- Tyrone Brown walked out of prison Thursday
morning, 17 years after a single positive marijuana test while on
probation led a Dallas judge to hit him with a life sentence.

Brown, who won a conditional pardon last week from Texas Gov. Rick
Perry, broke into a wide smile and then cried as he saw the crowd that
awaited him: half a church busload of relatives, plus journalists from
as far away as New York.

"I didn't believe this day was going to come," he said.

His mother, Nora Brown, rushed across the street to embrace her son
and nearly collapsed, speechless. She then led the crowd in waving
goodbye to the high red-brick walls and razor wire of the Huntsville
unit, where Brown had been processed out of the prison system.

She screamed "new life" as she later led the group in
prayer.

Brown's punishment has become symbolic of perceived problems in the
Texas criminal justice system.

Judge Keith Dean initially put Brown on probation in 1990, when he
took part in an armed robbery in which no one was hurt. One positive
drug test led to the life term in prison.

Last spring, The Dallas Morning News contrasted Brown's case with that
of a well-connected murderer whom Dean put on probation. The killer,
John Alexander Wood, repeatedly tested positive for cocaine and
committed other violations, yet he avoided prison. He even got
permission to quit reporting to a probation officer and quit taking
drug tests.

Neither man had a prior criminal record. The judge, voted out of
office in November, has refused to explain his actions.

Brown isn't getting the simple commutation recommended by Dallas
County officials and the Texas parole board. Instead he must report
indefinitely to a parole officer and meet other conditions or risk
going back to prison.