Photo: ANURAK PONGPATIMET/Shutterstock.com

Susman Godfrey managing partner Neal Manne plans to keep fighting after the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts denied state compensation for his pro bono client's wrongful conviction.

Manne since 2015 has sought state compensation under the Tim Cole Act for Alfred Dewayne Brown, a Houston man recently declared actually innocent in the 2003 murder of a police officer, and who was wrongfully imprisoned for 12 years—nine on death row.

In a letter on Monday, Leonard Higgins of the comptroller's judiciary section wrote that he couldn't approve the compensation because of a problem with the documentation in Brown's application. The comptroller must base its decision on certain types of verified court documents, one of which is a motion to dismiss based on actual innocence, explained Higgins.

“It is not clear that the district court has jurisdiction to withdraw and reenter a dismissal, or enter a second dismissal in Mr. Brown's case. Consequently, the amended motion to dismiss and the order of dismissal do not clearly indicate on their face that Mr. Brown is entitled to compensation,” Higgins wrote in his letter that denied Brown's compensation.

Alfred Dewayne Brown

Brown's actual innocence finding followed a rare procedure. It started when the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 2015 granted habeas corpus relief and ordered a new trial based on prosecutorial misconduct. The Harris County District Attorney's Office in 2015 moved to dismiss the case—but not for actual innocence. Later, the district attorney's office brought in Special Prosecutor John Raley to investigate if Brown should be reindicted or declared actually innocent. Raley issued a 185-page report that found no credible evidence to implicate Brown, and in fact, found strong evidence supporting Brown's alibi. Next, 351st District Judge George Powell reopened Brown's case in order to issue a new motion to dismiss based on actual innocence.

Texas Lawyer spoke with Manne to learn his thoughts about the comptroller's decision. Here are his answers, edited for clarity and brevity.

Neal Manne of Susman Godfrey. Courtesy photo.

Legally speaking, why do you think the decision is wrong?

Under the law of the state, set forth by the Texas Supreme Court, the comptroller's function is ministerial only. Here, the comptroller is making judgments about who is right and who is wrong. That's exactly what the Texas Supreme Court has said the comptroller may not do. Mr. Brown has been declared actually innocent by a court, and that is all that's required under the statute for compensation. It's not the comptroller's job to pick and choose which actually innocent people get compensated, and which actually innocent people do not.

Can you briefly explain any similar cases that laid precedent for what you argue should have happened instead?

There are at least two cases that I'm aware of where an initial dismissal did not include the magic words “actual innocence,” but a district attorney, and later a district court, recognized actual innocence and a second order was issued. In each of those cases, no one questioned whether the court had jurisdiction or whether the subsequent order was sufficient to trigger the Tim Cole Act. The most recent example is the case of Hannah Overton. On exactly the same facts in which compensation has been denied to Mr. Brown, the comptroller paid compensation to her without any question.

Related stories:

Susman Godfrey Partner Wants Texas to Pay $973K to Wrongfully Imprisoned Client

2 Houston Civil Litigators Go Outside the Box to Win 'Actual Innocence' Case

Houston Ex-Prosecutor Faces Grievance for Allegedly Helping Send Innocent Man to Death Row