You are reading

Innocent Man Was in Prison for 25 Years, Exonerated of Murder Today: Queens DA

Garfield Brown, left, and Samuel Brownridge, right, at around the time of the 1994 murder

June 23, 2020 By Christian Murray

A Queens man was exonerated today after spending 25 years in prison for a murder he did not commit.

Samuel Brownridge, 45, was cleared of the crime after being convicted in 1995 for an execution-style shooting in St. Albans.

The murder conviction was vacated this afternoon after the Queens District Attorney’s office filed a joint motion with Brownridge’s defense lawyer stating that the evidence in the case was flawed. The case was built around two eyewitness accounts that were deemed erroneous. There was no physical evidence.

Brownridge was released from prison last year after serving 25 years behind bars. He was out on parole when he attended a court hearing on the case today. Today’s ruling expunged his record and ended his parole.

Brownridge was wrongly convicted of killing Darryle Adams, who was fatally shot in St. Albans on March 7, 1994. Adams was shot in the head after he was approached by a group of four men.

Days after the murder, Brownridge was identified as the shooter by a witness who said he had been threatened by the group prior to the incident. Another man claimed to see Brownridge do it from a distance. Both accounts proved to be unreliable.

Brownridge said he was at home with his girlfriend at the time of the killing.

Three of the men who were part of the group have now admitted that Adams was not shot by Brownridge. They say that Garfield Brown, who was also seen by another witness with the group that evening, was the killer.

Brown, a violent felon, was killed in a police shootout in 2002 in connection with him being wanted for murders in New York and Connecticut.

Brownridge, in court today, thanked his pro bono defense attorney Donna Aldea, his family and supporters. However, he expressed his outrage toward the justice system.

“I sat in a jail cell every night waiting for this day, while others went home to their families knowing that the system failed and law enforcement did not do what they could to free an innocent man,” Brownridge said.

“I sit down sometimes and say to myself, why me? My twenties, thirties and half of my forties are gone.”

Brownridge is the first man to be exonerated since District Attorney Melinda Katz established the Conviction Integrity Unit in January.

“This is a profoundly poignant day for Mr. Brownridge,” Katz said. “After decades of voicing his innocence—this man who served 25 years for a crime he did not commit—will finally be unencumbered by this miscarriage of justice.”

email the author: [email protected]
No comments yet

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Maspeth woman charged with DUI after slamming SUV into school crossing guard: NYPD

A Maspeth woman was arrested and charged with driving under the influence and other crimes after she slammed her SUV into a school crossing guard on Tuesday afternoon.

Police from the 104th Precinct responded to a 911 call of a motor vehicle collision involving a pedestrian at the intersection of Eliot Avenue and 71st Street at around 3 p.m. on Sept. 26. Upon their arrival, officers found the 63-year-old woman lying on the roadway with trauma to her head. EMS responded to the scene and rushed the crossing guard to Elmhurst Hospital in critical but stable condition, according to the NYPD.

MTA providing shuttle from 7 train to traveling Vietnam War Memorial replica in Flushing Meadows Corona Park

Sep. 26, 2023 By Bill Parry

The MTA is working with the NYC Department of Veterans’ Affairs to provide shuttle bus service between the Mets-Willets Point 7 train station and Flushing Meadows Corona Park for all those wishing to visit the “The Wall that Heals,” a three-quarter scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., that honors the more than three million Americans who served in the Armed Forces during the Vietnam conflict.