EP. 100 TEXAS - The Murder of Cheryl Fergeson & The Wrongful Conviction of Clarence Brandley
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A homicide that haunts the town. And today, I'm going to tell you about my hometown murder. One of the wildest cases I've ever heard of that surprisingly, not that many people know about. When I was a little girl, I went to church every Sunday in Conroe, Texas at a church called The Ark. It was still pretty new so we didn't have our own official building yet.

So every week, service was held at Conroe High School. On Saturdays, the church employees would go to the school, set everything up for church the following morning, and then after Sunday service, they would take everything down in preparation for school the next day. My dad was very involved in our church, and I remember one day, he told me that the church employees who were in charge of setting everything up

Always got a weird feeling when they were alone in the auditorium. Some weekends they would hear footsteps or the sound of voices, even though they were the only people in the school. Now obviously I was a little creeped out, but at the same time I wanted to know everything. So I ask my dad, do they think it's a ghost? To which he says, probably.

You know a girl was murdered in that same room where the employees get a weird feeling? My true crime obsession had started long before this, so as soon as I got home, I walked over to my huge desktop and I started to look up everything about the case. It all started on August 23, 1980, in the small town of Belleville, Texas.

16-year-old Cheryl D. Ferguson woke up that morning and was in a rush. Her volleyball team had to meet at Belleville High at 7:15 a.m. She and her teammates had to make a 60-mile bus ride to Conroe, Texas. It was the first tournament of the season, and the girls were excited. Cheryl and her six teammates all arrived at the school in their matching gray sweatsuits.

They loaded up the bus with the equipment and at around 7.50, the bus took off towards Conroe, Texas. But the girls were running a little behind schedule, arriving at Conroe High just 30 minutes before the tournament started. So Cheryl quickly throws her stuff down and runs out of the gymnasium to find a restroom while her teammates began warming up.

Soon enough, the volleyball games started, but Cheryl still hadn't come back. They continued on with the tournament thinking that she would eventually show up, but after an hour, Cheryl was still nowhere to be seen. Worried, her coach sends a few of the players to go looking for her. They run through the school looking down every hallway shouting her name, but no luck.

Eventually, the coach stops the entire game and calls the police to report Cheryl missing. Over the next hour, everyone is frantically running through the school trying to find her, and she would eventually be found. In the auditorium where my church used to hold its services every week, there was a loft above the stage. It was a small little area where the theater students used to store props.

Two janitors that were assisting in the search would eventually go up there and to their horror, they found Cheryl's naked body hidden behind a wooden plank. She had been strangled and raped. Cheryl Ferguson deserved justice and sadly she would never get that. You see, my hometown of Conroe, Texas has a deep and dark history of racism.

And sadly, the murder of Cheryl Ferguson is not the only tragedy that came from this story. The corrupt and racist investigators that investigated this crime had their eyes set on one person and one person only, the African American high school janitor, Clarence Brantley. The Conroe Police Department had plenty of evidence proving that Clarence was not the man that committed this crime.

But they did everything in their power to make sure he was the one convicted. This story has a little bit of everything. Corrupt cops who intimidated witnesses, lying prosecutors, dishonest judges and DAs, and evidence that mysteriously went missing. When I looked into this case, I learned that this story is not just about the murder of an innocent teenager.

but it's also about an innocent man who sat on death row for 10 years for a crime he did not commit. This is the story of Cheryl Ferguson and the wrongful conviction of Clarence Brantley. I'm Courtney Browen. And I'm Colin Browen. And you're listening to Murder in America. Murder in America

Cheryl D. Ferguson was born on August 10, 1964, and at the time of our story, she was living with her father, Buck, on a ranch near Belleville, Texas. They had moved here from Houston two years prior, wanting to get away from the busy city, and it was only Cheryl and her dad at the time. Her mother, Sylvia, had tragically passed away the previous year after a battle with cancer, and her two older brothers, Jerry and Jimmy, were grown up and out of the house. But

But Cheryl and her dad made it work. They had a good relationship and Cheryl was a good kid.

She was an honors student at Belleville High, very involved in 4-H, the team manager of the volleyball team, a member of the school's newspaper, and she even designed her school's mural. After her mother's death, Cheryl liked to keep herself busy. In her free time, she loved to paint, draw, roller skate, and hang out with her friends and boyfriend Frank. She was also a country girl through and through. Cheryl often dressed Western with cowboy boots, a big leather belt, and more than anything, she loved horses.

Cheryl had a bright future ahead of her, but all of that would be taken away far too soon. And as she and her teammates rode the bus that morning over to Conroe High, she had no idea that her life was about to tragically end. And sadly, her case would never be solved, all because of the racism within the Conroe Police Department, which had been around for quite some time. On the outside looking in, Conroe appears to be a quiet and peaceful town.

But no one really knows its dark history. I definitely didn't. After all, they don't teach you that kind of stuff in school. But when I was in the 7th grade, I had to do a history project about the area I grew up in. And a part of that project was interviewing someone in your community. I happened to run into a very old African American man and I asked him, "What memory from your childhood sticks out the most?"

I was expecting he would tell me a happy story, but that wasn't the case. He told me that when he was 10 years old, he was walking around Montgomery County when he saw a group of white men hang a black man from a tree right in front of the courthouse and he actually pointed over and showed me the exact tree. I was shocked. I mean, I had grown up in that town.

I had walked by that very tree almost every day, and I never knew that. But it was that very day when I learned that my small little hometown had a very dark past. A past that no one ever talked about. And sadly, that wasn't the only instance where a black man was murdered by the white men of Conroe, Texas.

I did a deep dive into my hometown's lynchings and here are a few of the stories I found. In 1908, a black man named Charlie Scott, who was described as "feeble-minded," was found in a white woman's backyard and because they found him there, they accused him of attempted rape. Not long after, Charlie was found hanging from an elm tree near the Conroe Courthouse.

And on him was a sign that read "Warning to Negroes found prowling in white folks' homes." In 1922, a black man named Joe Winters had a white girlfriend named Anna. One day, the couple snuck off into the woods, the only place they could go without being spotted together. But on this day, they would be spotted by a white man.

When the man asked Anna what she was doing in the woods with a N-word, she became concerned and lied, saying that Joe forced himself on her. And from here, the hunt was on for Joe Winters. According to The Guardian in an article by Nick Davies, a black resident in Conroe recalled, "...they came by to get him. There was white men searching in all the houses. They went on all night."

Sheriff Hicks came through our house. My mama was crying. Everyone was crying. I didn't even know why, but I started crying too. There was white men on horses in the streets. Everybody just stayed inside, hoped there wouldn't be no trouble. Just before they came the first time, I saw him walk by my house. Joe Winters. He didn't even know he was in trouble. He just walked by and they never saw him.

Several thousand white men from all over the county joined the hunt to find Joe Winters. Clothes of his were even taken and given to bloodhounds to sniff him out. Then on May 20th, 1992, they found him. The angry white mob dragged him downtown in front of the courthouse. He was pulled through a crowd of people, his hands and feet chained, while all the people screamed the N-word.

and spit on him. He was then chained to an iron post, while men stacked boxes around his body. They then poured oil and kerosene all over the boxes until they were soaking wet. Local women, children, and white men surrounded Joe's bound body. Then they lit a match and threw it on the boxes. Joe Winters was burned alive right in front of the town of Conroe.

on the front lawn of the courthouse. The black residents that tried to approach were turned away by the white men. One black resident said, quote, I heard they tried to take a picture of him, but he wouldn't stand up. He was trying to make them kill him before they burned him. He was hoping they would shoot him, but they didn't want to do that. You could smell it all around. Smell the kerosene and the meat, burning meat.

He didn't die straight away, not till the flames went down his throat." The local newspaper would later report, "Joe Winters burned here. Negro pays penalty for assault on a 14-year-old girl." In 1941, a man named Bob White was accused of sexually assaulting a woman named Ruby Cochran. Her husband came up behind him during his trial and shot him in the back of the head.

Dude Cochran would eventually go on trial, and the all-white jury found him not guilty in less than a minute. He was actually praised for his actions. And these are only a couple of instances where black men were murdered around Conroe, Texas. Nick Davies, author of the book White Lies, took a deep dive into Conroe's racist history. He even wrote an article titled, The Town Who Loves Lynching.

In his research, he unearthed a number of lynchings around Conroe, Texas. And interestingly, all of them shared one common trait. The men had been accused of attacking a white person, usually a woman, and law enforcement had looked the other way when the town of Conroe took care of it themselves. Nick Davies wrote,

Their deaths ran like a spine through the skeleton of Conroe's buried history. Clem Scott hanged from the elm tree in the courthouse square. Andrew McGee riddled with bullets in his prison cell. Tom Payne hanged on the edge of town when police handed him over to the mob. James Kinder and Alf Riley shot down in the street by a crowd of whites. An unnamed black man accused of prowling near a white woman's house and shot through the head.

Warren Lewis, mentally challenged, hanged from a tree because he went to a white woman's house to ask her for water. And most of these murders occurred earlier in the 1900s, when this kind of stuff was prevalent in the South. But sadly, even in the years before Cheryl's murder, there were still innocent black men getting killed. In 1973, a black man named Greg Steele got into a bar fight because white men in town were angry he was dating a white woman.

He was sent to jail and while in his cell, a police officer shot and killed him. During the trial, he would later claim that Steele pulled a knife on him and that it was in self-defense. But there was no knife found in the cell and Greg had been shot in the back three times. But of course, the officer was found not guilty. And to actually learn about these events that happened in the town where I was born and raised was heartbreaking.

I mean, I never had that much hometown pride to begin with, but I never knew any of this. So I implore you all to look up the hidden skeletons in your hometown. You'll be surprised what you find. Conroe is small, and I just listed over a dozen lynchings. And the reason I mention them is because they are very relevant to our story today. It shows that racism runs deep.

It's taught through generations. And the people who were lynching the black men in Conroe in the early 1900s created this generation who is handling Cheryl Ferguson's murder. And based on what you'll see throughout this episode, it's clear that racism still runs deep through Conroe, Texas.

As a little background, Clarence Branley was born in Montgomery, Texas on September 24th, 1951 to parents Willie and Minnie, who were divorced. And at the time of our story, he was living in a housing project in Conroe. Years earlier, he was living in Houston with his wife Evelyn and five children.

But they eventually separated and Clarence ended up moving to Conroe to get a fresh start. When he got the job as the supervising janitor at Conroe High, Clarence was really happy. And he was working really hard so that his oldest son, Clarence Jr., could come live with him. Clarence really was on a good path. He even had a girlfriend at the time named Beverly, who had actually dropped him off at the high school on the morning of the murder at around 7.40 a.m.

Clarence immediately went to the maintenance room, unlocked the door, and ran into Henry Peace, one of the other janitors. Henry was short and stocky, a little awkward, and went by the name "Icky." Then he and another man named Sam Martinez, who was Hispanic, were the only janitors who actually respected Clarence. The other two janitors were known racist in town, and they were not a fan of Clarence Brantley. One was named John Sessom, and the other was Gary Ackerman.

21 year old Gary actually hated Clarence. He was disgusted by the fact that he had to take orders from a black man. It made his blood boil and he often muttered the N-word under his breath anytime Clarence told him what to do. But that morning, all of the janitors showed up for work at about 8 am and there was a lot of work to do.

In a couple of days there was going to be a big meeting held in the cafeteria with all of the janitors in the district and it was their responsibility to get it ready. So Clarence tells Sesam, Akerman and Martinez to go in there, mop the floors and set up the chairs, while he and Icky were going to go to the teacher's lounge and clean the floors in there. But Icky knew that there was a lot to do that day.

So he told Clarence, "I'll take care of the teacher's lounge and you can go work on other stuff that needs to be done." So from here, Clarence goes to the gym. The volleyball teams were just arriving and he noticed it was a little hot inside, so he opened up some windows and turned on some fans. Shortly after, Cheryl and her teammates would pull up to the school.

Like we mentioned, they were running behind schedule. So much so that they didn't even have time to go to the girls locker room. They just had to put all of their stuff down in the gym and begin warming up. So she put the volleyball bag and the scoreboard down and quickly ran down a long dark hallway in search of a bathroom. Down the end of that hall, up two flights of stairs, she found one.

It was far away from the gym, but she planned on being quick since the game was about to start.

So Cheryl walks through the door and does her business. Moments after this, Clarence comes walking down that same hallway with rolls of toilet paper in hand. He was on his way to refill the restrooms, but as he got closer, he saw the other three janitors kind of lurking in the hallway around the woman's restroom. When they see Clarence, they tell him that they finished setting up the chairs in the cafeteria, and they want to know what they have to do next. It was clear that the men were tired of working. It was a Saturday, and they all wanted to go home.

Clarence tells them that they're about to be done for the day. All that was left to do was some work in the vocational building. So he tells them, Why don't y'all head over there and I'll meet you in a few minutes. But before the other men leave, Gary tells Clarence that there's a girl in the women's restroom. So out of respect, Clarence only refills the boys' restroom. Then he goes back to his office to smoke a cigarette while the other janitors head towards the vocational building.

Once Clarence was finished smoking his cigarette, he walks over to the vocational building, lets the men inside, and gives them their final duties of the day. He told them once they were finished, they could go home. He even said that they could claim it as a full day's work, even though they only worked a few hours. After that,

Clarence goes back inside of the high school and he and Icky finish setting up the cafeteria. It's around 11am and back inside of the gymnasium, Cheryl's coach and teammates are getting worried. It had been over an hour and she still hadn't come back from the restroom. Several of the girls had even run through the hallways looking for her, but no luck.

So at this point, they stop the entire tournament and decide to call the police. Both Clarence and Icky were just walking out of the school to go home when they saw a police car coming up the ramp. Clarence stopped and asked what was going on and the cop told him that a girl was missing. So he and Icky decide to go back into the school to help look for her.

Clarence and Icky started searching by the main lobby leading into the school, and when they got there, they noticed something out of the ordinary. The door to the main lobby was unlocked, which was strange because it was a Saturday and the doors were always supposed to be locked up. Then he remembered something else that was strange. Earlier that day, he noticed another door leading into the school had been propped open with a trash can. All these doors were supposed to be locked and secured, and he didn't open them, so who did?

Clarence held on to that thought as he and Icky continued looking for Cheryl. Then they noticed that the door beyond the main lobby leading to the auditorium was also open. Something about this sight didn't sit right with him. There was no reason why both of these doors should have been unlocked. So together, both Clarence and Icky decided to look for Cheryl in the auditorium. They walk around for a few minutes going up and down the aisles and they still don't see her. But in that auditorium, they do find two more unlocked doors.

one that led outside and another right next to the auditorium stage that led to the bathroom Cheryl was using. By now, they had searched the entire auditorium except for the loft, which was the dark and crowded area above the stage where the theater students at Conroe High kept props. They figured it was unlikely that Cheryl was up there,

But since the doors to the auditorium were unlocked, they decided to look anyway, just in case. Icky was up in front, and Clarence followed close behind as they silently made their way up the stairs. They both glanced around, making their way through. In the back, there was a large wooden piece of plywood leaning up against the wall. Icky walked over to it and pulled it back.

To their horror, they found the body of Cheryl Ferguson. As Ikki pulled back the piece of wood, Cheryl rolled over onto her back and it was clear she was dead. Her blue eyes were lifeless, staring up at the ceiling, and her mouth hung wide open. Cheryl was naked, wearing only socks. Her neck was raw and a reddish purple color, indicating she had been strangled.

She also had bruising down her arms, like someone had been holding her down. On her back was the imprint of a crucifix from her necklace. Seeing her body up there, both Icky and Clarence are horrified and Clarence quickly runs out of the auditorium to tell the police about their discovery.

Soon enough, Conroe High School is swarming with police officers, detectives, school officials, and the media. Crime scene investigators immediately go to Cheryl's body and begin their investigation. On her thigh, they found a hair that they placed into a plastic wrap of a cigarette pack. A paper towel was found near her body, and so was a piece of her bra. The gold chain she wore around her neck was missing, but police were able to obtain the crucifix. They also found the presence of semen on her body and blood on her socks.

Cheryl Ferguson was then taken to the medical examiner's office while the Conroe Police Department started their investigation. And immediately, they zeroed in on the two janitors that found the body: Henry "Icky" Peace and Clarence Branly. Which, in the beginning, is a normal investigative move. You always have to look at the people who found the body. So the investigators asked them both to come to the police station to give their statements, to which they both agreed. Once they got there, they also agreed to give their fingerprints, blood, hair, and pubic hair samples.

Clarence wasn't worried about giving any of this to the police officers because he didn't do anything. But both he and Icky could sense some hostility coming from the investigators. And Icky was a little worried because he couldn't read or write, and he didn't want to sign his statement without someone he trusted reading it to him first. But the cops told him that he wasn't allowed to do that, so he signed it anyways.

Following this, an officer drove Clarence and Icky back to the high school. When they got there, they saw a group of officers searching through Icky's 1972 Chevy Impala. In it, they found a gun, a couple of knives, and a billy club. They told him it was illegal to carry the weapons, but they weren't confiscated. After all, Cheryl was strangled, so the weapons they found were irrelevant.

Now, one of the investigators at the school was Texas Ranger Wesley Stiles. He had worked in law enforcement for 18 years before he became a Texas Ranger in 1969. And when he heard the details of the case, he too was convinced it was one of the two janitors that found the body. So Stiles approaches Clarence and Icky and says, "One of you two is going to hang for this."

He then looks at Clarence and says, "And since you're the N-word, you're elected." I can't imagine what was going through Clarence's mind that night as he went to bed. I doubt he got any sleep at all. He knew in his heart that he didn't kill Cheryl, and he hoped that the physical evidence would prove his innocence. By this point, word had spread all throughout Conroe that a teenage girl was murdered in their very own high school.

and everyone was terrified. Things like this just don't happen here. Some parents were even refusing to send their kids to school that year unless someone was arrested. So law enforcement was feeling a lot of pressure to get the case solved. Captain Coroner tried to calm everyone down. He told them that this case was his number one priority and that they were going to solve it before the school year started.

Two days after the murder, on Monday, August 25th, the crime scene in the loft had already been cleaned up, and like all the other employees, Clarence decided to return to work as usual. He started the day by cleaning up the school, emptying the trash, restocking the restrooms, but then suddenly, Mally Davis, Clarence's supervisor, approached him and said that the Conroe Police Department had been in touch and wanted to speak to him and the other four janitors. Clarence was confused because he had already talked to the police and had given them blood and hair samples.

But he went anyways. Once he got there, the investigators asked him and Icky to go to Houston for a polygraph exam. And again, they obliged because they had nothing to hide. During the test, they asked Clarence about his personal life. They asked him if he had ever raped anyone and if he murdered the girl at the high school. Clarence answered no to all these questions. And at the end of it, they told him that he passed and that he, quote, had nothing to worry about, end quote. I'm sure Clarence felt a huge rush of relief.

He knew he didn't do it, and surely they'd finally get off his back, but that wouldn't be the case. You see, while he was taking his polygraph exam, the other three janitors, Sessom, Ackerman, and Martinez, were at the Conroe police station giving their statements, and they all claimed that Clarence was the only janitor not accounted for during the murder.

But what's important to note is that all of their statements were very inconsistent. And we will get into all of that here in a bit, but this is exactly what the investigators needed. Even further, behind the school's gym, detectives found a school-issued trash bag with Cheryl's clothes inside. Also in that bag was a string from a mock.

So it did in fact look like one of the janitors was responsible for her murder. After all, who else would have access to the school's mop and trash bags? But even though there were five janitors in total, the only other person they investigated, other than Clarence, was Icky Peace. And like Texas Ranger Wesley Stiles said, since Clarence was black, they were going after him.

So with the testimony of these three janitors, investigators had all the evidence they needed to make an arrest. Clarence had still been going to work every day, but something about today felt different. Teachers that once smiled and talked to him every day were now pretending he didn't exist. Police officers roamed the hallways and glared at him.

He didn't want to be paranoid, but things were different and he could sense it. That very day, Texas Ranger Wesley Stiles and District Attorney Jim Kishon waited in the principal's office for Clarence Branley. They had just called him over the intercom to report there immediately. When Clarence arrived, he saw two men, one dressed in a white Stetson hat and leather boots and the other dressed in a suit. The men were standing in the center of the room surrounded by police officers.

Stiles adjusted his white Stetson hat and stepped forward, stating, "'I have a warrant for your arrest on a charge of capital murder,'

Police intervened and put Clarence's arms behind his back and cuffed him. Then he was let out of the building to be taken to the county jail. The investigators were ready to interrogate Clarence to try and get a confession out of him. Believe it or not, the DA Jim Keeshan and Wesley Stiles sat Clarence down and told him that in addition to the other janitor's statements, they knew he was guilty because his polygraph results came back as deceptive, which was weird because the polygraph examiner told Clarence that he passed and had nothing to worry about.

Clarence couldn't believe it, and he kept telling them over and over that he had nothing to do with this. At one point, Wesley Stiles told Clarence, "'If I had my way, I'd take you out now and blow your goddamn brains out,'

and it was here when Clarence decided to stop talking. He knew that these men had already made their minds, and there was nothing he was going to say to change it. So the investigators threw him in jail while Clarence's family scraped together all the money they had to hire a defense attorney. In the meantime, the news of his arrest swirled outside through the streets of Conroe. Everyone was relieved to know that the murderer had been caught. A local newspaper even wrote, "'Conroe can sleep safe at night once again.'"

The day after his arrest, Clarence was able to meet with his attorney, Ray Reeves, and he told him over and over again that he did not murder Cheryl.

But things were not working in Clarence's favor. You see, somehow, investigators determined that Cheryl had been murdered sometime before 10 a.m. Again, I'm not sure how they came up with that time, but that just so happened to be the time Clarence was in his office by himself smoking a cigarette.

which is not a good situation for him because he didn't have anyone to vouch for his alibi. Now, like we mentioned earlier, two days after the murder, the three janitors that were seen lurking near the women's restroom would eventually give their statements. And they would all say that they were outside of the vocational building waiting for Clarence to bring the keys when Cheryl was murdered. What's interesting though,

is that in their first statements, all of their stories were very short, inconsistent, and just didn't make a lot of sense. For instance, one of the men said that they were only waiting outside for 5 minutes, then another one said it was 45 minutes, and when investigators saw this, they knew these inconsistencies would be a huge problem, especially in a trial.

So, surprise surprise, the day after Clarence was arrested, Texas Ranger Wesley Stiles actually brings the three janitors back to the high school and they walk through and quote, go over everything. Then afterwards, they all submitted a second statement.

Surprisingly, this time, all of their statements were very long, detailed, and all of the facts matched up with one another. And believe it or not, now all of their statements are saying that they actually saw Clarence talking with Cheryl. Which is interesting because that's not what they said in the first statement. But they said that after they saw Clarence talking with Cheryl,

they went outside to the vocational building where they waited for 45 minutes for Clarence to bring them the keys. Now this was not a formal police interview but regardless, the men all signed their statements and investigators had exactly what they needed. Now you might be thinking, what about the physical evidence? Surely that would prove who killed Cheryl Ferguson.

Well, it turns out the physical evidence went completely against the prosecution's theory. After the murder, Cheryl's body was taken to Houston, Texas, where Dr. Joseph Jakomczyk performed the autopsy. He discovered that there was semen on Cheryl's body and in her vagina, so he took samples. He also found three Caucasian hairs not belonging to the victim

found near her vagina as well. Now what's interesting is that Cheryl's hymen was still intact, meaning she likely never had sex before, but there was semen in her vagina. And we will talk more about this in the trial because it gets pretty complicated, but during her autopsy, they also found that her bladder was empty.

meaning she had just used the restroom. And we knew this because Cheryl never came back to the volleyball game after going to the restroom. But to the prosecution, this proved that the three janitor's statements were right. They claimed that right after Cheryl used the restroom, they saw Clarence talking with her.

And from there they assumed that after the three men walked outside, Clarence took her into the auditorium where he raped and killed her. But if that was the case, then why were three Caucasian hairs found near her vagina? Another thing they found at the crime scene was blood on Cheryl's socks. When they tested the blood, it came out to be type A. Cheryl's blood was type A.

But there was no lacerations deep enough to make her bleed, so the blood couldn't have come from her. Interestingly enough, Clarence's blood was type O. Her autopsy also proved what everyone already knew: Cheryl's cause of death was strangulation. A 4 and a half inch ligature mark was on her neck from what looked like a belt.

Now normally in a situation like this, the victim will scratch their attacker, either during the rape or during the strangulation. But surprisingly, there was nothing under Cheryl's fingernails. In fact, there was no proof at all that Cheryl fought back. Which makes sense because there were bruises all up and down her arms and on the palms of her hands, indicating that someone was holding her down.

And most professionals that have looked at this case believe that two people had to have been involved. One person, they believe, was holding her arms and kneeling on her hands, while the other person was strangling her.

But despite all this physical evidence that cast doubt on Clarence's guilt, the case was still brought to the grand jury. It started on Wednesday, September 3rd, 1980. Clarence was taken to the Montgomery County Courthouse and took a seat at the long wooden table next to his defense attorney, Ray Reeves. And you know how people say, "Never put the defendant on the stand?" Well, Ray Reeves made the mistake of doing just that, and Clarence was not well prepared.

The DA, Jim Keeshan, asked if Clarence had a criminal record. Clarence responded, "No, sir." He then asked if Clarence had ever been arrested for rape. Again, he responded, "No, sir." But Clarence wanted to be honest, so... He decided to tell the jury about an incident with a woman named Jo Ellen Parrish. According to Clarence, Jo Ellen, a prostitute, had once stayed the night with him. And her boyfriend, who was her pimp, found out about it and got mad. Jo Ellen told him that Clarence had attempted to rape her.

The police were called, but Joe Ellen retracted any statement and no charges were ever filed. So even though Clarence never got in any trouble for this, it still wasn't a good look.

Jim Keeshan also brought up another woman that goes by the name of "Pokey" and asked if she had ever accused him of sexual assault. Clarence adamantly told the grand jury that he had never raped anyone, but it was at this moment Reeves knew he had made a huge mistake letting Clarence testify. None of these claims had ever been substantiated, but the fact that they were even being brought up, the grand jury was now under the impression that Clarence was a rapist.

That same afternoon, Reeves received the information that the jury had indicted Clarence for the rape and murder of Cheryl Ferguson, and he was set to go to trial later that year. From there, Clarence was sent back to his small jail cell to wait for the trial to start. But on September 25th, his attorney was back in court to file two motions. The first motion was for District Attorney Keishon,

to stop talking and interfering with potential witnesses for the defense. Reeves said that Keishon was guilty of "unethical and unprofessional conduct." But the judge denied this motion. The second motion was for DA Keishon and his team to hand over 18 pieces of evidence for the defense to review. They needed to see the evidence that was going to be used in the case in order for Clarence to get a fair trial.

And believe it or not, Judge Lee Allworth would not let the defense have a copy of the autopsy report, basic evidence in the case. He also wouldn't let them see any of the scientific findings from the hair or semen swabs.

Which is just wild because that's the physical evidence. You have to have that. Both sides of every case need to be able to look through the evidence before they can go to trial. The only thing the judge would allow the defense to see were a few crime scene photos and some of Cheryl's clothing. But they wouldn't even be able to get those until later on. And this entire thing just revealed

that there was deep corruption within Conroe law enforcement. And it wasn't just with the police officers. It went all the way up the line. And Ray Reeves couldn't do anything about it. So he, along with Clarence's brother Ozell, ended up hiring two prominent defense attorneys in Conroe named George Morris and Don Brown.

Then, together, all three of the attorneys wrote up a motion regarding every piece of evidence that they were denied. They even threatened the judge, telling him that they would take the motion to a higher court if they were denied again. And Judge Allworth knew that he was in the wrong, so of course, when they threatened his job, he decided to grant the motion. And finally, 40 days after Cheryl's autopsy,

they were able to look at the report. But that was about all they got. They were never sent the rest of Cheryl's clothing. They barely got any of the photos from the crime scene. They weren't sent copies of Clarence's original statement or anything. They basically just sent a fraction of the evidence over hoping that that would be enough. So again, the defense says, you have to give this to us. If not, we're going to report you.

And finally, the DA decides to hand it over. All of the evidence from the case was being kept in a box and the person that brought the box over to the defense was the lovely Texas Ranger Wesley Stiles. There was definitely a lot of tension between the prosecution and the defense, but at least they finally had the evidence. So, they open up the box.

And as they're going through it, their eyes grow wide in disbelief. The rape kit was missing. The only piece of physical evidence that could have proved Clarence was innocent was gone. Even further, the only piece of clothing that was in the box was Cheryl's underwear. And there had been semen found on the underwear, but that part of the fabric was cut out. Now, that only means that it was sent off for further testing.

So the defense starts calling around. For one, they want to know where the rape kit is. And the prosecution tells them that they're going to have to talk to the medical examiner. As for Cheryl's underwear and the semen results, DA Keishon says that the results came back inconclusive.

Luckily, earlier on in the investigation, Clarence's family raised some money to hire a private investigator Her name was Lorna Hubbell, and she was a 25-year-old investigator from an agency in Houston But even though she was young, Lorna was very good at her job After the murder, she spent six weeks in Conroe, going through the school, looking at the scene, and interviewing as many witnesses as she could find

One of these witnesses was John Sessom, one of the janitors. And he told her the same story he and the other two janitors finished their work in the cafeteria, then Clarence told them to go to the vocational building where they waited outside for 45 minutes. But something about that story just didn't make sense to Lorna. For one, it was very hot outside that day. August, if you don't know, is brutal in Texas.

And there's just no way they sat outside in the blistering heat for 45 minutes And Clarence was adamant that he was only in his office for 10 minutes tops while he smoked a cigarette So Lorna suspected that something fishy was going on here Why would the men lie about that? From here, she decides to interview Gary Ackerman But almost immediately, she got a really bad feeling about him

He was nervous during the interview. He recounted pretty much the same story as Sessom, but when she pressed him on the details, he kept nervously repeating, "Well, what did John say?" Lorna couldn't quite put her finger on it. She had a feeling he was hiding something. Now, while Lorna is investigating this angle for the defense, Brown and Morris are doing everything in their power just to get the evidence. And even further,

They want the other janitors to be tested for their hair, blood and semen samples. It didn't really seem fair that Clarence was the only one who had to give his, especially when Caucasian hairs were found near Cheryl's vagina. And there was type A blood at the scene and Clarence was type O.

If they knew the killer was one of the janitors, then those things alone should have made it to where the other janitors had to give up their samples. But surprise, surprise, the judge denied this motion, which is just mind-blowing to me because it's almost like they know getting those samples will reveal the truth that Clarence is innocent.

Now, as for the missing rape kit, DA Keishon and Judge Allworth say they have no idea where it is. Keishon even says, yeah, we can't find it. We don't have it. The lab doesn't have it. And neither does the pathologist. How convenient. Now, the defense is pissed.

Again, this is the evidence they need to prove Clarence's innocence. So they decide to call Dr. Jakomsik who performed the autopsy and took the semen samples. But to their surprise, he tells them that he doesn't have the samples. He claims that he just throws away evidence after 30 days. Brown could not believe what he was hearing.

And he tells the doctor, "So let me get this straight, you threw away vital evidence in a rape and murder trial?" And the doctor plays dumb and he tells him, "Yeah, we just don't have enough storage for that. So if the police department doesn't ask for it, I just throw it away." Now, every medical examiner ever knows that after you take the samples,

you send it over to the police department. You don't just keep it in your filing cabinet to collect dust and then throw it away after a few weeks. So the defense knows that something major is going on here. This is a well-respected, renowned medical examiner and he knows good and well not to throw away evidence. But there's nothing the defense can do about it.

and any and all evidence that would have set Clarence free had somehow disappeared.

Now, from here, Brown and Morris actually gathered $30,000 themselves for Clarence to post bail. They knew that they needed to get him out of jail before trial so they could really get to the bottom of what was happening. But Judge Allworth, DA Keishon, and Sheriff Gene Reeves were not going to let that happen. They actually met up in the judge's office to discuss everything, and DA Keishon referred to Clarence as "the N-word" and said there was no way they were going to let him out. But the bond had already been ordered, and they still refused to release him, which is against the law.

So the defense had no choice but to go over Judge Allworth's head and reach out to the Court of Appeals in Austin, Texas. And it was only then when the judge finally agreed to release him on November 14th. So when that day came, Brown and Morris went to the courthouse to make their $30,000 bond and get their client. But suddenly they were stopped by DA Keishon. He had a document in his hands signed by Judge Allworth that said that Clarence's bond was now raised to $75,000.

And, I mean, they're not allowed to do that. Raising someone's bond without a court hearing is simply against the law. So from here, Brown and Morris had no other choice but to demand Judge Allworth to step down from the case. And believe it or not, that very afternoon, he did. He knew he was in the wrong. And he would later say, quote,

Now, unfortunately, Judge Allworth would get to choose the replacement judge in the case, and he chose Judge Sam Robertson Jr. of Houston, Texas.

Hearing this, Clarence's team was really upset. This new judge was known to favor the prosecution in almost every case. And his very first order of business after assuming the position was to uphold Judge Alworth's decision of a higher bond, even though it was all done illegally. And Brown and Morris couldn't afford to spend another $45,000, so Clarence was stuck in jail. And he'd stay there for the next 10 years. Clarence's trial started on Monday, December 8th, 1980.

and his defense only had about two weeks to prepare. And this was not going to be an easy trial considering they barely had any evidence to work with. But the one thing they were sure of was that two people were involved in Cheryl's death. That explains the bruising all over her arms, the imprint of the crucifix on her back, and the fact that there was no evidence under her nails. It was clear that one person was holding her down

likely kneeling on her hands and holding the tops of her arms, while the other person strangled her. Which also explains why there were two sets of Caucasian hairs found on her body. Now, at some point in the investigation, the state claimed that they also found two hairs from a black male on Cheryl's thigh. And since Clarence was the only black employee, it had to be him. But the defense refused to believe that.

They suspected that the state planted them after they took samples of Clarence's hair, which wouldn't be hard to believe after they "lost" the rape kit. Even further, a state expert testified that the hair could not be definitively linked back to Clarence. But another setback the defense was facing was the fact that Clarence had an all-white jury. DA Jim Keeshan made sure of it.

But on the day of the trial, the prosecution came in and they were confident, even though they only had circumstantial evidence. They started the trial by bringing in Cheryl's father, who gave an emotional testimony on the last day he saw his daughter. They also brought in school teachers, volleyball players, and the Conroe High School volleyball coach, who all recounted the events on the day Cheryl was found murdered.

To convince the jury of Clarence's guilt, the prosecution brought up the fact that they believed Cheryl was strangled with a belt, considering she had a 4.5-inch ligature on her neck. Earlier in the investigation, Clarence said that he did have a belt on that day, but pictures would later prove that he wasn't wearing one. And even if he was, Clarence's belt only measured 1.5 inches. There was also no DNA found on Clarence's belt. The knife he carried that was seized by police on August 23 contained no fibers from Cheryl's clothing.

His fingerprints were not found on Cheryl or at the scene, and the blood found on Cheryl's socks was proven not to be Clarence's blood. The defense tried to show the jury all of this, but it was clear things were not looking good for their client. For three days, Keishon brought forward witnesses, including police officers and the medical examiner, and many of them admitted to losing key evidence in the trial. Or they admitted that they just didn't collect certain pieces of evidence at all.

For instance, not only was the rape kit missing, but the captain of detectives admitted to the jury that most of the crime scene photos and autopsy photos were useless because they didn't use the right setting on the camera. The defense would cross-examine him and during it, they discovered that the investigators took the photos to a shop in the mall to have them developed. Normally, in a murder investigation, they would take the film to a lab, but no, they literally took it to the mall.

They also brought forward the medical examiner, Dr. Joseph Jakomczyk, the one who threw away the evidence. And he told the jury about how Cheryl's hymen had been intact after her rape. Now, originally, it was believed that the reason it was intact was because her rapist didn't fully penetrate. But now, he's saying that Cheryl was likely raped after she was murdered.

And since all of her muscles were relaxed, her hymen stayed intact. And as he says all of this, members of the jury let out an audible gasp. Not only is this case about murder, but now the rape of a dead corpse. The prosecution even mentioned the fact that Clarence used to work in a funeral home, so he wouldn't have been repulsed by a dead body. The defense said they, quote, objected like hell.

But since the judge was in favor of the prosecution, they were quickly overruled. Now, Dr. Jakomczyk also tried to use the amount of urine in Cheryl's bladder to prove a time of death, but he would end up contradicting himself on the stand and it didn't end up working out in their favor. At the end of the doctor's testimony, the defense asked him about the rape kit. "What happened to the vaginal swabs?" they asked.

He claimed on the stand that he gave them to Captain Corner of the Conroe Police Department. But then, he quickly recanted and said that it was possible he hadn't passed them on at all. The defense even brought an expert of their own, named Sally Williams, who claimed that losing vaginal swabs "is not only unusual, but that's the whole purpose of doing the examination."

And this whole situation with the medical examiner is just bizarre because even rookies wouldn't make that kind of mistake. And other than this, Dr. Jakomczyk was considered a good medical examiner. Meaning the only rational thing to believe here is that either he made the biggest mistake of his career or he was conspiring with the prosecution. But we will let you decide that.

Towards the end of the witness testimonies, it was clear the state did not have the best case. But the nail in the coffin for Clarence was when the prosecution brought in the other janitors to testify. Their testimonies were all perfectly identical to one another. One of the jurors even said that it sounded like they had all gotten together and rehearsed what they were going to say, which is probably what happened here.

When it was time for Gary Ackerman's testimony, the defense was very suspicious of him. So were some of the members of the jury. Gary was very nervous and fidgety and he often kept his head down when he would speak. And what's wild is that he even talked on the stand about how he and Clarence had a friendly relationship. Which wasn't true at all. Everyone knew Gary hated Clarence.

Like we mentioned earlier, he would mutter the N-word under his breath when they would work together. Now, the defense brought up the fact that at first, all three janitors gave very inconsistent statements. And then, after they met with Texas Ranger Wesley Stiles, they all submitted a second statement that was perfectly detailed and consistent.

All four janitors also testified that Clarence Branley was the only person with a set of keys for every door in the high school, including the auditorium. But that wasn't true. Other employees did have keys to the school. But no matter how hard the defense fought against these claims, it was clear that the jury was siding with the state. Even further, Icky Peace, the only janitor who was nice to Clarence, had turned on him as well, telling the jury that Clarence made him go to the auditorium loft, so he would be the one to discover the body.

In the closing arguments, the prosecution told the jury that no one else could have committed the crime, calling Clarence a monster. And the defense said that because the state was lacking evidence, and the evidence that they did have came back as inconclusive, that they could not possibly convict Clarence of the crime. They said that the killer could have been any of the janitors, but the state refused to take their DNA. And because of their sloppy investigation, they took the easy way out and pinned it on the wrong guy. And with that, the jury left for deliberation.

Now, right when the jury sat down to deliberate, they all took a quick vote and all but two thought that Clarence was guilty. One was a woman and another was a man named Bill Shrack. Bill said that he was completely baffled that this case even went to trial and he told everyone in the room that the state did not have proper evidence for a conviction.

But almost everyone else in the room heavily relied on the janitor's testimonies. They believed they were telling the truth. And after a bit of persuasion, the one woman who initially voted that Clarence was not guilty was now voting that he was. But Bill Schreck told everyone that he would not change his vote under any circumstances. He knew within his heart that Clarence was innocent.

But as he said this, the other jurors started to get angry. They all wanted to go home and they knew they couldn't until they came to an agreement. One woman started complaining that she had Christmas shopping to do. A man complained that he needed to get home to his dog. Another said she was going to miss a party. Bill couldn't believe it.

According to the book White Lies, he told everyone, quote, Listen, you can't all be worried about parties and dogs. Our commitment is here. There's a man here in life and death circumstances. I'm not going to change my mind just so we can get out of here. The tension in the room was strong, and the other jurors started shouting things like, Change your damned vote so we can get out of here. What about that little girl? Brantley's guilty.

One even called him an N-word lover. But Bill Schreck stuck by his word and he refused to change his vote. So from here, the judge declared a mistrial, which was not a happy ending for either side. Don Brown would later tell the author Nick Davies that, quote, he had never heard of a more brazen declaration of prejudice, end quote. From here, Clarence Brantley went back to his cell

and the jurors got to go home. On their way out of the courthouse, reporters were outside and they started asking them questions and they were all quick to point at Bill Shrack as the man who caused the mistrial. And once the town of Conroe learned his name, Bill was constantly berated. For years after the trial, he would receive anonymous and harassing phone calls.

He even had to change his number, but the calls continued and when he told the police about it, they sent him away. They weren't interested in helping the man who voted not guilty.

Clarence's second trial would start six weeks later on January 20th, 1981, and again he had an all-white jury. Luckily, Brown and Morris were able to get a new judge in the case after filing a motion about Judge Robertson's prejudice in the previous trial. The new judge was a man named John Martin, who fortunately was considered to be a very fair judge. And Brown had even worked on his previous campaign and considered him a friend, so they were feeling good about the upcoming trial.

And then they received a phone call that got them even more excited. It was from a man named John Payne, and he said he had some information on the Brantley case. He went on to tell the attorneys that his niece was a woman named Cindy, and she was married to janitor Gary Ackerman. According to the caller, Cindy and her father Ed said that on the day of the murder,

Gary came home from work and started pacing around their home. When they asked him what was wrong, he told them that a girl had been murdered at the high school. And this piece of information alone changed everything.

According to Gary's testimony, he said that he left the school that day after setting up chairs in the vocational building and he left, having no idea that a girl had been found murdered. So if what they were saying was true, then how did he know about it when he got home from work? Even further, Gary told Cindy and Ed that he was nervous because the dead girl's clothes were in a dumpster behind the school.

This was not public knowledge at the time. In fact, they didn't find Cheryl's clothes until a few days later. And what do you know, they happened to be right where Gary said they would be. Apparently, Cindy and Ed read the paper that her clothes were found in the dumpster and they were worried.

Because he wouldn't have known that unless he was somehow involved. Now, they obviously didn't say anything because they were wanting to protect him. But they did tell Cindy's uncle and he came forward with this information. And as Brown and Morris are hearing this, they are excited. They had always suspected that Gary was involved but now they had a witness proving that he lied on the stand.

They immediately issued a subpoena, but to their disappointment, Ed Payne decided that he didn't want to testify anymore. This was a huge loss for the defense and another loss was right around the corner. It seemed like Judge Martin, who they considered a friend, was now siding with the prosecution and he kept ruling against them, but all they could do was keep fighting for clearance.

When it came time for Texas Ranger Wesley Stiles to take the stand, they grilled him about his sloppy investigation and they asked him why he didn't think it was necessary to get hair, blood, saliva, and semen samples from the other janitors, to which he responded, "I did not because they hadn't been in contact with her. That's the reason."

Which is interesting because there was no proof Clarence had contact with her either, yet they still took his samples. So why didn't any of the other janitors have to? Especially when two Caucasian hairs were found on her body. The main thing the defense tried to do in this trial was show how inconsistent the janitor's first statements were and to point out that they too were at the high school that day and were not investigated.

That alone should cause some reasonable doubt. And something that really helped Clarence's case was that in the first trial, the prosecution really pushed the fact that Clarence had to be responsible because he was the only one with keys. But in this trial, Icky Peace admitted that he had a set of keys as well.

When it came time for Gary to take the stand, he was a lot more confident this time. He had learned from his mistakes in the last trial, and luckily for him, his father-in-law was no longer testifying against him. Now, a huge curveball in the case was that John Sessom actually refused to testify for the prosecution. He claimed that he didn't support the other janitor's testimony, so he was ultimately dismissed as a witness, and soon enough, the second trial was coming to an end.

In the closing arguments, DA Kishin used the same speech he did in the first trial, but this time he accused Clarence of being a sex-crazed necrophiliac, who likely got a thrill from having sex with Cheryl's dead corpse. Again, the defense objected, but Judge Martin overruled. And it's just crazy that they were even allowed to say this, because Clarence worked as a janitor at the funeral home. He didn't even have access to the dead bodies, but the prosecution painted him out to be this disgusting and worthless human being. And the jury believed them.

After less than an hour, they found Clarence Brandly guilty of first-degree murder. On the following day, they deliberated for just 45 minutes before sentencing him to death by lethal injection. Clarence was devastated. He was going to be put to death for a crime he did not commit. He even said that one day when he was being escorted to the courthouse, one of the officers that was with him leaned in and whispered for him to take off running.

Clarence knew that the reason he said that was so that the officer would be justified in shooting him, so he obviously didn't run. But from here, he went off to death row at the Huntsville State Penitentiary. His attorneys, however, refused to give up on him. They were not about to let an innocent man die, so they immediately started on his appeals. And believe it or not, Clarence's case started to get a lot of attention.

People from all over the state were learning about his case and realizing that he didn't get a fair trial. Houston even ran a series of articles in the Houston City Magazine that told the story of Clarence and how the city of Conroe might have convicted an innocent man. Now, one thing to note is that in order to appeal, you have to have the official court documents from the trial.

So Brown and Morris kept asking for the documents, but it was taking a lot longer than usual. Months and months went by and they still had nothing. Finally, in January of 1982, they got the documents but quickly discovered that parts of it, like photocopies and original statements, they weren't in there.

Even further, Brown and Morris later got word from DA Kishon's assistant that the small amount of evidence that they did have in the trial was missing. What made matters worse is that everyone, including DA Kishon, Judge Martin, and most of the employees at the courthouse, all knew about it. They even said to make sure not to say anything to the defense.

And this was huge because losing that evidence meant that Clarence could never have a chance at an appeal. So it's super convenient that it all just randomly disappeared. And Brown and Morris just felt so defeated. I mean, if the DA and the judge are all in on this, then what are they supposed to do? And soon enough, they would get a call that confirmed everything they already knew.

A court reporter named Mary Johnson, who worked for the DA, called Brown and Morris and had to get something off her chest. They decided to meet up after hours near Lake Conroe and once Mary arrived, she told them everything. According to her, the evidence from Clarence's trial was locked away in her office, but one morning, when she arrived at work, it was gone. Missing.

someone had gone into her office and taken it. So all of the original evidence like the hair samples, Cheryl's clothing, crime scene photos, everything was gone and DA Kishan and the judge urged her not to say anything. Mary also told the attorneys that during the trial, DA Kishan would sneak into the judge's office every single morning

for a private meeting where they would talk about the daily trial strategies. So they would basically just talk about the witnesses, the possible objections, what the judge was going to say when he was going to overrule. And obviously you can't do that.

If you're going to have meetings about the trial, the defense has to be there too." But they obviously didn't want the defense there because they were in cahoots making sure Clarence would get a conviction. As you can imagine, when Brown and Morris found out about this, they were pissed. So they marched right over to the judge's office and confronted him about the private meetings and the fact that he knew evidence went missing and didn't do anything about it. And they threatened him saying if he didn't step down then they were going to file a motion for misconduct.

And knowing he was in the wrong, Judge Martin voluntarily stepped down From here, Judge Lynn Coker took the position After Judge Coker took over the case, Don Brown was forced to work on the appeal alone After his partner and longtime friend George Morris passed away from lung cancer Throughout the appeals process, Brown typed up a 75-page document and sent it to the Criminal Court of Appeals But it was rejected

And Clarence Brantley's execution date was set for January 16th, 1986, which was just two months away. Brown continued to fight for his client, but with all the missing evidence and all the other things that went wrong at trial, it wasn't looking good. It would quite literally take a miracle to save him from an execution, but eventually that miracle would come.

In 1986, his attorneys got a call that a woman named Brenda Medina had sent in a tip in reference to Cheryl Ferguson's murder. Brenda said that in 1980 she was living in the town over from Conroe called Cuttenchute, which was the home to many racists and even some KKK members. But at the time, Brenda was living there with her common law husband, James Dexter Robinson.

She said that one night, the very day Cheryl Ferguson was murdered, Brenda said she was asleep in bed when James woke her up and confessed to her that he had raped and killed a girl at Conroe High School. He told Brenda that he thought he had enough time to flee the state of Texas because he had hidden her body pretty well and he didn't expect anyone to find her for at least a couple of days.

It's likely that Brenda didn't take James seriously. In fact, she went back to sleep not really thinking much of it. But the next morning when she woke up, she realized that James was gone and he took all of his stuff with him. The only thing he did leave were some tennis shoes that had blood on them. Brenda decided to throw them away. But before you pass any judgement, it's important to note that Brenda was only 16 years old.

And, she was pregnant with James' child after he raped her. Brenda decided to move in with him because she didn't want to face the scrutiny of having to explain to people that she was raped. And being so young, she figured it was best to live with the baby's father. But after moving in with him, she realized that he was incredibly abusive. Not only that, but he was just a lousy person in general and a liar.

So Brenda didn't even believe what he told her that night. She figured he up and left because he didn't want the responsibility of caring for his child. And after months and months of abuse, Brenda was happy to have him gone. But then one day, she was talking to her neighbor and she found out about the Clarence Brantley case.

As she was hearing all of the details, Brenda said that it sounded eerily similar to the story James Robinson told her right before he skipped town. And believe it or not, James Dexter Robinson used to be a janitor at Conroe High School. He had actually stopped working there shortly before Clarence became the supervisor. And James was supposed to turn over his keys, but he never did.

Now, at the time, there was a new DA from Montgomery County named Peter Spears, but he didn't find Brenda's story to be truthful. He figured she was just a mad ex who wanted revenge, so he didn't think it was necessary to tell Clarence's attorneys. But Brenda was adamant that she was telling the truth. So much so that she hired her own attorney to contact Clarence's defense, and from here, she took a sworn statement about what happened on the night of August 23rd, 1980.

As you can imagine, Clarence's attorneys were absolutely shocked They always knew their client was innocent, but year after year, Clarence kept getting screwed over by the system They fought hard to keep him on death row But they finally got what they had been looking for And something else that Brenda told them confirmed all of their suspicions that they had had from the very beginning James Dexter Robinson was good friends with Gary, the janitor that they had suspected was involved all along

In hearing this, Don Brown and Clarence Brantley were excited and they wanted to do everything right so that Clarence could finally be exonerated. So they ended up hiring a private investigator named Richard Reyna and he would record Brenda Medina's confession.

Here is a portion of that audio: "Did he tell you who he killed?" "He just said that he had killed a girl at the high school and that he hit her well enough that nobody would find her." And they knew that Brenda's confession would be highly scrutinized. After all, this was 6 years after the murder and a lot of people were going to accuse her of lying just so she could get revenge on her ex.

But Brenda took a polygraph and she passed. Now obviously polygraphs are not admissible in court, but if Brenda was lying, it likely would have shown up on that test. Now if you remember earlier in the story, Gary Aikerman told his wife Cindy and his father-in-law that he knew Cheryl's clothes were in the dumpster behind the school.

and he admitted that to them before they ever even found her clothes. So, hearing this, Richard Reyna wants to interview Gary. It was difficult tracking him down, but he eventually found him at a convenience store called "Gas and Stuff" and Richard just walked right up and confronted Gary right then and there. He told him all about James Dexter Robinson and how they knew he was involved in the murder.

And believe it or not, Gary admits right then that James was in fact at Conroe High School on the day of the murder. Luckily, Richard was wearing a recording device and he captured his confession. It's kind of hard to hear but Gary says "I seen him that morning. He was definitely there,

Now, Richard Reyna also wants to talk to John Sessom, the other janitor who was at the scene that day. At the time, he was unemployed and a severe alcoholic. And when Richard came knocking on his door, and he saw that a private investigator was there to talk about the case, Richard said that John hung his head down and said, quote,

During their conversation, Sessom never mentioned anything about seeing James Dexter Robinson that day, but he did admit that he saw Gary talking to Cheryl right before she was killed. Now, with all this information, Clarence's defense team was able to grant him a stay of execution, which means they would delay his execution date.

And finally, they were able to buy him some time while they built their new case. And from here, their main goal was to hunt down James Dexter Robinson. In July of 1986, Richard Reyna would end up finding him in Greenville, South Carolina. And like he did with Gary, he just walked right up and explained what was going on. He told James that multiple people had implicated him in the murder of Cheryl Ferguson in Conroe, Texas. I can imagine that James was shocked. He probably figured that that part of his life was long gone.

And believe it or not, Richard was actually able to convince James to come back to Texas so he could take a polygraph. They set up the polygraph exam and surprisingly James showed up. Afterward, the polygraph examiner came out and pulled the investigators to the side telling them, "Look, I asked him all these questions and at the end I finally asked him if he killed the girl at the high school and it took him five minutes to answer. He was just silent the entire time. Then finally he said, 'I could have killed her, but I can't remember.'"

As you can imagine, this was music to the defense's ears. But it wasn't a confession, so they still had some work to do. And the first step was getting Clarence a new trial. So in August of 1986, they had an evidentiary hearing, giving the court all the new evidence that they had. But surprise, surprise, the court tried to get all the new testimonies thrown out. And there was actually a law at the time that all new evidence in an appeal had to be submitted within 30 days of that person's conviction.

And since that evidence hadn't come within 30 days, they weren't going to accept it, and Clarence still had to be executed. His new execution date was scheduled for February 6th, 1987. But by now, Clarence's family had gone public with this story.

and he had a huge support group all over the country. Clarence's brother, Ozell, had even reached out to a New Jersey minister named Jim McCloskey who had dedicated his life to freeing people who had been wrongly convicted. When Jim looked at Clarence's case and read through the transcript of the trial, he could not believe what he was reading.

In fact, after this, he immediately flew to Houston and he actually showed up unannounced at the defense team's office, telling them that he wanted to help in the case pro bono. Jem was so convinced of Clarence's innocence, he was going to help them for free. As the days neared closer to Clarence's execution, over 200 protesters showed up at the Montgomery County Courthouse.

They all had signs that read "Free Clarence Brantley" and "Conspiracy in Conroe, Texas" and they all marched around chanting for his freedom. One minister from Houston even dumped cow manure on the courthouse steps. Jim McCloskey was also at these protests. Here was him speaking out in front of the courthouse. "I don't believe Clarence Brantley is innocent. I know he's innocent."

And luckily, with all of the public outrage, Judge Lynn Coker was able to reschedule Clarence's execution for March 26th, 1987. But that only gave them a few extra weeks. Clarence said that during this time he couldn't eat, he couldn't sleep, and all he could do was just pray that the truth would be revealed so he could go home to be with his family.

Clarence had one month until he would be executed. So while Jim McCloskey was in Texas, he, along with the other private investigator, Richard Reyna, worked hard interviewing all of the witnesses. They knew that the only way Clarence would be exonerated was if they proved who the real killers were. So they talked with John Sessom again. Initially, Sessom claimed he didn't know anything about James Robinson. But on this visit, he broke down and told them the truth.

Sessom said that on the day of the murder, he was drinking out of a water fountain at the bottom of the stairs when he heard the sound of a girl calling out for help. He said he looked over and saw both Gary Ackerman and James Robinson forcing Cheryl into the bathroom, but instead of intervening, he just continued to drink his water. They went up and were talking to her, and I just had in my mind that something was going wrong.

And they ask him, "When you heard Cheryl calling out for help, did it sound like she was in a lot of trouble?" Now this was huge. And John Sessom was even able to identify James Robinson in a photo.

Now, clearly, their next question was "Why didn't you ever come forward?" Sesem told the investigators that 1. He was ashamed that he didn't help Cheryl that day and 2. Gary Ackerman actually threatened him, telling him not to tell anyone about what he saw. Now, this is wild, but Sesem said that he only ever told one person about what really happened that day.

And I want you to take a wild guess on who it was. It was Texas Ranger Wesley Stiles. According to Sessom, after he told Stiles about what happened, he threatened to arrest him if his statement didn't match up with the other janitors.

And there are going to be some people out there that don't believe John Sessom's story, but I do. You see, one very important thing to remember here is that John Sessom was incredibly racist, so his confession went against everything he believed in. He was genuinely ashamed that he would be taking part in exonerating a black man. And the only reason he came forward in the first place

was because investigators were closing in on the truth. Now, after hearing all of this, the private investigators want to talk to Gary Ackerman again. So they find him and tell him all about John Sessom's confession. And now, he was finally ready to come clean. But his story was a little different this time around. Now he claims that James Robinson was in fact the person that murdered and raped Cheryl Ferguson.

And he said he saw James drag her into the restroom. That is the man, but he had shorter hair. Okay. Then he tells them about how he saw James Robinson discard Cheryl's clothes in the dumpster. What did you hear from her? She was just hollering around. Did you see what it was that James was doing to her?

Which made her call her no? We grabbed her. This next part is a little hard to hear, but listen closely. I seen Robinson come out of the side back at the main building and get up to the dumpster and dump a bag in. Do you know what was in the bag? At the top of it looked like it was clothes hanging out of it. Why are you now telling us this? Because I don't think Claire's family was guilty of it.

Gary says that he knows for a fact that Clarence Brantley wasn't guilty of murdering Cheryl. Do you believe that James Robinson killed Cheryl Ferguson at Conroe High School on August 23, 1980?

Now, Gary would later recant this confession, likely because he too was involved in her murder and he didn't want it to backfire But by that time, the defense had already found two more people who came forward saying that Gary told them years earlier that Clarence was innocent and that he knew who the real killer was Two people said this, so Gary couldn't back his way out of that one But after getting this confession tape, the investigators quickly rushed it over to the Texas Attorney General's office and asked them to stop the execution

They also asked them to bring murder charges to the real killers. But even with all of this new evidence, the DA still pushed for Clarence to be executed. Which is honestly just unbelievable. It genuinely sounds like a made-up story. But here's the new DA, Peter Spears, in March of 1987, telling you himself:

All this change testimony and everything is a complete, if not a complete fabrication in any event is totally without any kind of credibility whatsoever. And the thing that's crazy to me is why would all of these guys confess all of these years later if it wasn't true? They had nothing to gain from this confession. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

These confessions meant that they all committed perjury in the first trial. And again, they were all racist and they benefited from having Clarence go down for the murder. But once they realized that these private investigators actually knew what happened, they started confessing.

And all of this seemed to come at the perfect time. By this point, Clarence was just 6 days away from his execution. Judge Lynn Coker rejected the DA's decision and gave Clarence another stay of execution. By this point, he had been on death row for 7 years and his entire life was in the hands of the Court of Appeals and all he could do was pray that they would give him another trial.

Luckily, those prayers would come true. The new judge in his case was named Perry Pickett, and he agreed to have Clarence's new trial 90 miles away from Conroe in Galveston, Texas. Here was Judge Pickett's thoughts on how his previous trial was handled. There exists here a volatile, explosive situation not conducive to the fair administration of justice.

On the first day of Clarence's trial, there was a lot of tension in the courtroom, but this time the defense was confident. The prosecution would bring in James Robinson as a witness.

And during his cross examination, he admitted that he told his ex Brenda Medina that he killed Cheryl Ferguson. But he claims that the only reason he said that was so that she wouldn't come after him to pay child support. He also claimed that he was in South Carolina at the time of the murder and he didn't have any explanation on why three people placed him in Conroe that day.

As for Gary Ackerman, he admitted that he did see James Robinson at the school that day, but now he's testifying that he never saw Cheryl getting abducted. Now, the only reason he did this is because it's widely believed that Gary was also involved in her murder. The defense even asked him on the stand, you've come to the conclusion that you were implicating yourself in these videotaped statements. Isn't it true? But of course, Gary Ackerman denied it. From here, they brought John Sessom to the witness stand.

He had actually cleaned himself up and got sober shortly before the trial. In that day he told the jury that he saw Gary Ackerman and James Robinson leading Cheryl into the restroom while she was screaming out for help. He also mentioned something that was a huge bombshell. He claimed that in James Robinson's hand he saw a belt.

Now this entire time, the prosecution had been trying to claim that Clarence wore a belt that day. But you know how there were missing photographs and the evidence? Well it turns out that some of the missing photos were pictures of Clarence on the day of the murder. And what do you know, he wasn't wearing a belt.

Now, during John Sessom's testimony, he also mentioned the fact that he was threatened by Texas Ranger Wesley Stiles. And he sobbed on the stand as he told the jury that he committed perjury in the previous trial. He said the reason he lied under oath was that he was scared, saying, quote,

I run from people over this for a long time, but you can't run from yourself or your feelings or your own conscience." Next, the defense brought forward Icky Peace, the man who discovered the body with Clarence. Now if you remember from earlier, he actually turned on Clarence during the trial and tried to implicate him in the murder, but during this trial,

Vicki says that the only reason he did that was because the day after Cheryl's murder, Texas Ranger Wesley Stiles came to his house, threw him up against the wall, and said he would "blow his head off" if he didn't follow the story they came up with. I hate this man. But anyways, of course Wesley Stiles would deny this.

But they now had two people claiming that he was intimidating witnesses, so this wasn't a good look for the prosecution or the Conroe Police Department as a whole. Icky also said that he actually went to the DA's office and told Jim Kishan about how Stiles threatened him and Kishan told Icky that he would "handle it" but obviously that never happened.

Lastly, Icky told the court about how Stiles told Clarence, quote, someone is going to hang for this, and since you're the N-word, you're elected. Surprisingly, neither Wesley Stiles or the prosecution denied that he said that.

Now, Clarence's trial was coming to an end and the defense had a lot of hope. The entire thing was just honestly a huge embarrassment to all of the officials who worked the case in Conroe. Because it was painfully obvious that in the original investigation, racism was the leading factor. And that these officials did everything in their power to make sure he was convicted. Even though they knew that he wasn't responsible. I mean, why else would they destroy evidence?

Mary Johnson testified telling the jury all about the missing files in the private meetings. She even said that they specifically picked Clarence's execution date so that it would fall on one of the court employee's birthdays. That's how bad they wanted to see him executed. Mary weeped on the stand and expressed her fear of losing her job, and she eventually would. The very next day, after her testimony, Mary was fired, all for telling the truth. At the end of the trial, Judge Pickett spoke to the court.

saying that the testimony he heard that day was "chilling and shocking, and a pervasive shadow of darkness has obscured the light of fundamental decency and human rights." He also ruled that based on testimony, he believed Gary Ackerman and James Robinson "probably were responsible for the death of Cheryl D. Ferguson, and Clarence Brantley did not commit the crime."

Finally, after all this time, the truth was revealed and Clarence had been exonerated. The entire court erupted in applause while Clarence broke down in tears. He would later say, "It was a great moment to finally see that someone was man enough to stand up and say that this had gone on long enough and we need to correct it." Now, as if Clarence hadn't been screwed over enough,

he would remain on death row for two more years following this. The Court of Appeals had overturned his conviction, but he couldn't be released because the Conroe Courthouse continued to file motions asking for new hearings. They literally fought to the very end to keep Clarence on death row, even though it was now clear to everyone that he was innocent.

By the time he was finally released from prison, on January 23, 1990, he had been on death row for nearly a decade. Clarence said that he was sitting in his cell when he heard the guard come down the hallway, calling out his name. And he knew it wasn't because he had a visitor, but because he was about to be let free.

Clarence said that all of the other death row inmates began to clap and cheer because they had never seen anyone walk out of those gates. But the time had finally come and Clarence Brantley was a free man.

Jim McCloskey, the private investigator who helped him get out of prison, told the Texas Monthly, Clarence Bradley was one of the bravest men I've ever known. Even when he had that execution date five days away, he was sitting there so calm and strong. He was religious, no question. He knew he was an innocent man.

I can't say he believed we'd succeed, all he'd say was he was deeply appreciative of what we were doing. Keep it up, he'd say. Maybe something will break, and if it doesn't, I know you've done your best. He knew he'd go to his maker with a clear conscience. But luckily, he wouldn't have to do that. Outside of the prison, all of Clarence's supporters were there cheering, crying, and hugging him. It was a beautiful day, and he had a lot of life to catch up on.

Following his release, he went to vocational school and became an electrician. Then, later on in his life, he would become an ordained Baptist minister. I'm often asked, how can I continue to serve a God in spite of all that I have been through? But I tell them that ask, I say, God is still good.

In 1990, he remarried a woman named Melvina Sims and the two were very happy together Now, like everyone who was wrongfully convicted, Clarence deserved compensation for the time he served He filed many lawsuits trying to receive this compensation, but because he was never officially pardoned, he would never receive a single penny for the time he spent on death row

Even further, as soon as he was released, the courts told him he had to pay over $25,000 in child support money because he didn't pay it for 10 years. But how did they expect him to pay that when he was on death row? Even after Clarence was released, he continued to get screwed by the system. As soon as he was able to, Clarence left Conroe, Texas and never looked back. And throughout the next few decades, he did his best to enjoy every second of life. Time is precious, and he learned that the hard way.

10 years of his life was stolen for a crime he did not commit. I'm sure it was hard to learn to forgive the people who wronged him, especially because not only was he not compensated, but he also never received an apology. And I know a lot of this episode was about Clarence Brantley and his wrongful conviction, but it's also important to remember the other victim of this story, 16-year-old Cheryl Ferguson.

Because the Conroe Police Department never properly investigated the case, we will never truly know what happened on August 23rd, 1980. Most people familiar with the case believe that after the men abducted Cheryl, Gary Ackerman held her down while James Robinson raped and strangled her.

But again, we can't say that for sure because, after Clarence's trial, neither of the two men were ever further questioned about Cheryl's murder. They also never took the other janitor's DNA. From the beginning, the defense had been pleading for them to take it. If they did, Cheryl's murder could possibly be solved, but they weren't interested in doing that.

The Conroe Police Department didn't want to reopen Cheryl's case because that would mean that they would have to admit that they were wrong and that would never happen. In fact, in 2014, they confirmed that they would not be reopening the case. So to this day, the person or persons who were responsible for Cheryl Ferguson's death got away with it.

They continued to live out their lives after taking the life of a 16-year-old girl. From my understanding, both James Robinson and Gary Ackerman are still alive, walking around free. Clarence, however, he died in 2018 from pneumonia. He was 66 years old. And I think one of the biggest things I've learned from my hometown murder story is that racism runs deep.

And it's taught through generations. Like I mentioned in the beginning, 60 years before this case, the city of Conroe was lynching people on the front lawn of the courthouse while law enforcement looked the other direction. And that same hatred and racism was passed down to the generation that handled Clarence Brantley's case. But they aren't allowed to burn people alive anymore or hang them from trees.

So instead, they destroy evidence, intimidate witnesses, and lie under oath all so they can legally execute a black man through our judicial system. There are going to be people out there who don't agree with this, but I want to remind you that evidence in a rape and murder trial don't just go missing, especially when it's locked away in an office.

Mary Johnson would later say that the only other person that had a key was D.A. Jim Keeshan, the man responsible for hundreds of other cases in Conroe throughout the years. For legal reasons, I'm not accusing him of anything, but it's scary that evidence like that can mysteriously disappear and no one is held accountable. So what were they hiding?

We don't know exactly, but it's safe to assume that whatever it was, would have proved that Clarence was innocent. And it makes you wonder, how many other Clarence Brantleys are there? How many people have actually been executed for a crime they did not commit? According to the Death Penalty Information Center, since 1973, there have been 190 people exonerated after being put on death row.

Clarence Brantley was one of them. He was just six days away from lethal injection before they gave him his life back. As for Cheryl Ferguson, she didn't get another chance at life, and she would never get the justice she deserved. All because the officials of Conroe, Texas cared more about convicting a black man than they did pursuing the truth.

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Hey, everybody. It's Colin here. And Courtney. Thank you for listening to this week's episode of Murder in America. This is such a just sad story, isn't it, Courtney? Yeah, it's just crazy what you can uncover about your hometown. Nobody knows this story, and it's a really crazy one. So I wanted to tell Cheryl's story.

So also comment your hometown murder stories on our Instagram. We want to hear them. Yeah, and the killers are out there still to this day. No one was ever convicted. That's just shocking to me. But I want to shout out our new patrons for the week. Wild Oak 93, Shannon DeSilva, Kira Scholes, Hayden Liebich, Willa Frye, Hannah Groff, Kayshawn, Hozu Portillo Vargas, Adam Hollow, Kristen Hinkle, Billy James Lynham, Tony Martin, Twiggy, and Dana Hyde.

Thank you all so much for becoming patrons. I'm once again, sorry if I slaughtered any of your names. If you're wondering what that list is, you can become a patron at any point because we post all of our ad free versions of our episodes on our Patreon every single week as soon as the episodes go live on all platforms. So if you don't like the ads, you can sign up to become a patron and yeah, get the ad free versions of every episode.

You can also see our photos from every case on our Instagram at Murder in America and also on our Facebook group. Yeah, so this week has been a really weird week. I don't know if you guys follow me on YouTube or not, but my channel got deleted and it just got restored. So...

It's been like just a really, really hard week and I cannot thank everybody enough who's out there who listens to the show and who supports, you know, Courtney's hard work here on the podcast too. I just want to thank everybody so much for helping me get back to living my dream. So it means a lot. But yeah, until next time, I guess we'll see you next week. We love you guys. Catch you on the next one.