Former Philly Prosecutor Says 'I'm Sorry' To Man Who Served 40 Years
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- For more than four decades, a Philadelphia family has insisted that the wrong brother was given a mandatory life without parole sentence.
On Thursday, the former assistant DA who put Kevin Brinkley behind bars met with him as a free man. The former prosecutor says he believes the family.
Gerald Dugan was a bag of nerves.
"Frightened is not the right word. I guess I am more apprehensive," he told the small group of reporters gathered in his Center City office.
Forty years ago, as a young assistant district attorney with the Philadelphia DA's office, he convinced a jury to convict the then 15-year-old Kevin Brinkley of the Strawberry Mansion murder of beloved egg delivery man Charles Haag.
But today, Dugan invited Kevin to his office, to make amends.
"Thanks for coming," said Dugan, as he shook Kevin's hand.
Or at least try. Now, Dugan says he strongly believes he locked up the wrong guy.
Kevin's brother Ronald Brinkley, repeatedly testified that he was Haag's killer. The two brothers even took lie detector tests years ago and passed, saying the same.
"I didn't do anything wrong or unethical during the prosecution of the case," Dugan told Brinkley, but later said he could have done more. "You have every right to say that you hate me."
In recent weeks, Dugan wrote the Pennsylvania Parole Board after learning that Kevin was re-sentenced under the Supreme Court ruling deeming mandatory life without parole sentences illegal for juveniles. He expressed his doubts that Kevin was the killer given Ronnie's testimony.
Last week, after 40 years behind bars, Kevin Brinkley began life as a free man at age 55.
He listened to Dugan's apology in silence.
"I'm sorry," Dugan told him, "there's nothing in the world I can do to change what happened."
Kevin's response, was brief.
"I sympathize," he said quietly.
Dugan blamed an incompetent defense, a faulty criminal justice system and a DA's office that pushed for wins instead of justice. Now in his late 60s, Dugan wants to clear his conscience.
"Maybe I could have done more- I should have re-interviewed the witness," he says.
"We publicly want to apologize to the Haag family," says Greg Brinkley, Kevin's uncle. "We don't bring this up to hurt them- but Kevin Brinkley is innocent."
The Brinkley's have fought for Kevin's freedom for decades, telling anyone who would listen that the DA's office locked up the wrong brother.
"We tried to, 40 years ago, tell them that this is wrong," he says.
Now they want authorities to exonerate Kevin Brinkley.
"It's not fair- he's already paid enough," says Greg, a retired corrections officer, "I'm not advocating that my nephew Ronnie go to jail, Kevin has paid forty years for that crime and the tragedy and pain we have experienced as a family- you have no idea."
He had this message for the DA's office.
"It's time to right this wrong," he says, "stop the bleeding- you've done enough."
As for Dugan, he believes there's a way to prove Kevin's innocence.
"If the pants exist- I think the DNA would be there," says Dugan, referring to the pants Haag was wearing when he was killed. He told Kevin he wanted to keep in touch and that he would help him.
"I really mean it," he told him.
The Philadelphia DA's office sent this statement via email:
"Based on the evidence presented at trial as well as evidence that was presented at hearings in Kevin Brinkley's various post-conviction proceedings, the District Attorney's Office has been and remains confident in the conviction. Two eyewitnesses who had known Kevin Brinkley for several years identified him as the person who shot and killed Charles Haag. Trial evidence presented by Kevin that these eyewitnesses mistook him for his fourteen-year-old brother Ronald was rejected by the jury. It should be noted that Ronald and Kevin do not resemble each other and, hence, are not easily confused.
In extensive, separate Post-Conviction Relief hearings, this same claim was rejected by two different Common Pleas Court judges.
Finally, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, in its 2009 opinion denying Kevin's claim, said: '…. we admonish Brinkley for wasting the court's time by continuing to allege that it was his brother who committed the crime no matter how often the trial court, PCRA court and this Court hold that this claim is meritless.'
The District Attorney's Office negotiated Kevin's sentence and our position on parole just as we have in every other juvenile murderer case -- by considering the facts of the case, his role in the crime, his pre-crime life, his behavior in prison and any other relevant evidence, including that offered by the defendant. Since Kevin Brinkley accepted our offer of a negotiated sentence and the court imposed that sentence, he is eligible for parole. We trust that the Parole Board will make the proper determination."
