Tyrone Brown

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Tyrone Brown is an African-American Texan who was serving a life term in Texas maximum security prison for stealing two U.S. dollars and smoking marijuana while on probation. He was recently granted a conditional pardon by Texas Governor Rick Perry.

[edit] Original crime

He initially took part in a $2 robbery in which no one was hurt and Judge Keith Dean in Dallas, Texas sentenced him to ten years of probation. During that probation he tested positive one time for marijuana and the judge changed his sentence to life in prison.

[edit] Public outrage

Public outrage came about when this story was aired on 20/20. Additionally, a series of articles appeared on him in 2006 in the Dallas Morning News.

Perhaps even more than the unjust sentence, public outrage came about when the news program contrasted Tyrone's story with a white man named John Alexander Wood (see http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/042306dnmettwomen.2e5ca5a.html). Wood also appeared before Judge Dean and pleaded guilty to shooting an unarmed male prostitute in the back. Wood was also sentenced to probation. However, Mr. Wood repeatedly tested positive for cocaine while on probation and committed other violations. He was arrested for cocaine possession in Waco while driving a congressman's car, but prosecutors there didn't press charges because of unspecified evidence problems. He smashed a woman's door in a dispute over a dog, but again the case was dropped.

Judge Dean let Mr. Wood stay free and eventually exempted him from most standard conditions of probation: no drug tests, no ban on gun ownership, no meetings with a probation officer. He was even allowed to move freely about the state. Mr. Wood completed his sentence in May, leaving him with no conviction on his record.