Two men who were wrongfully convicted of separate child murders in Noxubee County, Mississippi, were cleared in the crimes at a hearing this morning based on evidence proving their innocence. Kennedy Brewer and Levon Brooks, who are represented by the Innocence Project, have maintained their innocence for 15 years and were joined by more than 100 of their relatives at this morning’s hearing.

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"It has taken 15 long years, but Kennedy Brewer and Levon Brooks are finally free. The evidence clearly shows that they are innocent -- what's troubling is that their innocence has been clear for years, but they remained incarcerated while the true perpetrator was at large," Innocence Project Co-Director Peter Neufeld said. "The system wasn't just broken in these cases -- different elements within the system actually conspired to convict two innocent men of heinous crimes, while the actual perpetrator remained at large. These cases should haunt Mississippi and the nation, and they should lead to a top-to-bottom review of how the state is investigating and prosecuting cases."

The same sheriff's officer investigated both crimes, the same District Attorney prosecuted both crimes, and the same discredited forensic dentist and same controversial pathologist conducted the post mortems and misled juries in both cases with false testimony implicating Brooks and Brewer. Because of concerns about whether Brewer and Brooks' cases would be handled appropriately once new evidence emerged, the Innocence Project persuaded the Mississippi Attorney General to intervene in the reinvestigation of the cases. This is the first time in the nation that a case has ended in exoneration after a state Attorney General has intervened and removed it from a local prosecutor, according to the Innocence Project.

All the more reason there should be no capital punishment because innocent people are being put on death row.