Adam Braseel
Did you kill Malcom Burrows? Did you assault Rebecca Hill?
During his eight years in prison, this is what Adam Braseel would ask fellow inmates, men who had been on the inside far too long to have had anything to do with the crimes that landed him there. It was the best way, he says, to convey his innocence and the way it felt to be accused of things he insists he knew nothing about.
He explains this to the Scene, from the outside. For almost seven months now, Braseel has been a free man again — at least for now. On Christmas Day, 2015, Judge Justin Angel voided his convictions and ordered a new trial for Braseel, potentially sparing him from a life sentence for crimes he always maintained he hadn't committed. The state is appealing that order and the Criminal Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in the case at 1:30 p.m. today in Nashville.
Ten years ago, Braseel, then just 22, was facing those questions himself. From the Chattanooga Times Free Press:
Grundy County deputies responded to Melissa Rock Road on Jan. 7, 2006, and found Malcolm Burrows next to a car about 200 yards from his residence, archives show. His sister, Becky Hill, had been beaten and sustained severe head wounds. Braseel, then 22, turned himself in to the Grundy County Sheriff's Department and was charged in connection with the assault and slaying.
Even then, Braseel tells the Scene, he believed things would work themselves out.
“I smoked some weed and stuff in my day and drunk a few beers or whatever," he says. "I’m not just a faithful Christian man in the past. So I’m like ‘hey, I’ve been guilty of all kinds of stuff but this I’m innocent of, so my name will for sure be cleared.’”
Almost two years later, though, a jury would convict him of killing Burrows and assaulting Hill. He received what would effectively be a life sentence.
But there were apparent issues with the case, issues that his initial attorneys had done little if anything about. In his brief to the appellate court, Knoxville-based attorney Doug Trant — who has represented Braseel since around 2011 — lays them out. As Angel noted in his order for a new trial, Trant writes that there was no physical evidence, DNA or otherwise, linking Braseel to the crimes.
Trant tells the Scene that Braseel was "“was just found fairly near the Becky Hill house” and that they have since presented alibi witnesses that were not presented at the original trial.
Instead the case relied on identifications from two people — Hill, who has died since Braseel's conviction, and Kirk Braden, one of the assault victims. But Trant argues, as Angel did in his order, that both identifications were faulty. Braden, he argues, had identified Braseel from a single-photo lineup — that is, that he was shown a photo of Braseel and asked if he was the culprit. Hill, Trant's brief argues, identified a man other than Braseel in a photo lineup. Braseel's attorneys at the time did not challenge either lineup or move to suppress them.
The state, in its legal briefs, disputes every bit of this, arguing that Braden was not presented with a single-photo lineup and that Hill correctly identified Braseel. They also argue that Braseel's legal representation in the original trial does not meet the threshold for the case to be overturned due to ineffective assistance of counsel.
“I had very little knowledge of this whole system, the procedures," Braseel says. "What we should do, what they should do, what shouldn’t be done. I had very little knowledge. So it was almost like I was just along for the ride.”
While Braseel sat in prison, his family and other supporters rallied behind him in an effort to clear his name and win his freedom. David K. Sale, a filmmaker who took an interest in the case, claims to have dug up a number of other problems with the initial investigation and trial. Trant declined to comment on Sales efforts.
And all the while, Braseel says, his family has been bled dry, financially and emotionally.
“It’s an epidemic," he says. "This is a money thing. It’s about power...It’s sad that people like me and my family are getting railroaded day in and day out because of either a lack of knowledge or a lack of money.”
Still, Braseel's outlook is persistently positive. The experience, he says, has been an opportunity for growth and, through his faith he says he believes good can come through things meant for evil.
“This life’s not where it’s at," he says. "Don’t live this life for this life, but live it for the one to come.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Rebecca Hill had been presented with a photo lineup two separate times. In fact, both sides agree there was one identification attempt. They disagree about whether Hill correctly identified Braseel.
