On September 19, 1984, at about 10 p.m., a man broke into a home in Covington, Louisiana, and attacked a woman, identified as D.T., who said she had fallen asleep on her couch while watching television. The manthreatened her with a knife, then raped her and fled.
D.T., who was white, told police that the perpetrator was a Black man wearing a baseball cap, jeans and a T-shirt. She said a red bandana covered his entire face below the eyes. She said he was 5 feet 9 inches tall, weighed165 to 170 pounds and was in his early 20s.
D.T. was taken to St. Tammany Hospital. H her clothing was taken as evidence and a rape kit was collected.
D.T. worked with a police officer, who created a composite sketch based on her description of the attacker. She said that the eyes in the sketch looked 80 percent like those of her attacker.
On October 31, 1984, 17-year-old Dennis Brown voluntarily gave samples of his head and pubic hair, and on November 5, 1984, he agreed to be a filler in a live lineup at the Covington Police Department. Although the police believed that two other men in the eight-man lineup were possible suspects, D.T picked Brown as her attacker.
Brown was charged with aggravated rape, aggravated crime against nature, and aggravated burglary.
On September 11, 1985, he went to trial in St. Tammany Parish District Court. D.T. testified that she had seen the attacker clearly for two minutes and she was sure that Brown was her assailant.
Detective Edgar McGehee and Covington Police Lieutenant Paul Cazaubon testified that they questioned Brown, and that he admitted committing the rape.
Jerry Miller, a serologist with the Louisiana State Police Crime Laboratory, testified that he found seminal fluid and sperm in the rape kit and on the victim’s clothing. He said he identified Type O blood. Miller said that both the victim and Brown had type O and that they were secretors, meaning that their blood type could be identified in body fluids. He said that Brown was among 45 percent of the population that were Type O secretors.
Brown testified and denied committing the crime. He said that police had threatened him at knifepoint during interrogation and that he did not admit to the crime.
Brown said Detective McGehee asked him for the color of the victim’s house. “I said ‘I don’t know,’” Brown said. “He say, ‘Was it a brick house? Anything like that?’ I said, ‘I don’t know.’”
Brown said McGehee asked about the sofa and whether it was pink or beige. “I said, ‘I don’t know,’” Brown testified.
“Then–first, he unbuckled his gun belt. Then he buckled it back,” Brown said. “And then he said, ‘I’m going to do it your way.’ And then he put a knife on me.”
On September 12, 1985, the jury convicted Brown of aggravated rape, aggravated burglary, and aggravated crime against nature. He was sentenced to life in prison.
His conviction was upheld on appeal. Subsequently, he sought help from Innocence Project New Orleans (IPNO). In 2003, IPNO filed a motion for postconviction DNA testing that was granted. Test results showed that Brown was not the source of the semen collected from the evidence and was excluded as the rapist.
On October 11, 20024, Brown’s convictions were vacated. He was granted a new trial and released from the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola.
On January 31, 2005, the prosecution dismissed the charges.
The state of Louisiana subsequently awarded Brown $480,000 in compensation. Brown also filed a federal civil rights lawsuit, which was settled in 2009 for $1.4 million.
– Maurice Possley
Posting Date: 08-29-2011
Last Update Date: 07-15-2026
