Brian Baldwin

Brian Baldwin (July 16, 1958 – June 18, 1999) was an African-American man from Charlotte, North Carolina, United States of America, who was executed in 1999 in Alabama. Many believe that he was wrongfully convicted and executed for the 1977 murder of a young white woman in Monroe County of that state. The only evidence against Baldwin in the murder was his own confession. He retracted it, saying that it was coerced by beatings and torture by the local police in Wilcox County, Alabama, where he was arrested. A 1985 letter by his co-defendant Edward Dean Horsley surfaced in 1996, after Horsley was executed for first-degree murder. He wrote that he had acted alone in the rape and murder of Naomi Rolon, and that Baldwin had not known of her death.

Death penalty opponents regard this case in which racial bias contributed to the wrongful conviction and execution of a man who did not commit Rolon's murder. The appeals process was marked by conflicts of interest. Governor Don Siegelman was petitioned for clemency on behalf of Baldwin before execution. Siegelman refused, saying that although he was "deeply troubled by some of the matters raised," he wrote "this matter does not rise to a level that warrants clemency."

Background

Brian Keith Baldwin was born in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1958 and had gotten into trouble with the law as a teenager. In March 1977 he was serving time in a juvenile facility in western North Carolina for stealing a car. On March 12, at age 18, he escaped with Edward Dean Horsley, Jr (known as Ed Dean), age 19, who had been convicted of armed robbery, a felony during which a police officer was shot.

Events

In March 1977, Naomi Rolon, a young white girl aged 16, was driving in Hudson, North Carolina across town to visit her father in a hospital. She apparently picked up Baldwin and Horsley, who were hitchhiking. They robbed and stabbed her, raped her, and put her in the truck. They drove 40 hours with her in the trunk, traveling across state lines to Monroe County, Alabama. Horsley went off in the car with Rolon, returning alone. She was killed on March 14, 1977. The police found Rolon's body and car beside a rural road in Monroe County.

The pair of men stole a truck in nearby Wilcox County, Alabama the next day, March 15, and they were arrested after a high-speed case by county police. They both gave statements at the Wilcox County jail. Baldwin later said that he was beaten and tortured there, finally giving a confession to end the punishment. They were not advised of their rights, including right to counsel.

They were taken to Monroe County, where they were each indicted for aggravated robbery and murder. This combination made it a capital crime; each man was eligible for the mandatory death penalty if convicted. A sentencing hearing would be held by the judge to determine if there were mitigating circumstances to reduce the penalty.

Horsley confessed to the murder; he was executed for first-degree murder in 1996.

Baldwin later said that after he was arrested as a suspect, the local police beat him and subjected him to shocks from an electric cattle-prod, forcing him to confess to the murder of Rolon. He later retracted the confession (which had incorrect material facts both about how Rolon died and the nature of the murder weapon). Three witnesses testified to seeing bruises on Baldwin's back and body after the interrogation.

Nathaniel Mazdie, the only black deputy sheriff in Monroe County at the time, later testified that he had seen Baldwin being beaten to coerce his confession and that a cattle prod was present at the jail. He also said that he had falsely signed an affidavit saying that Baldwin had been advised of his rights, including the right to counsel. But in 1999, from a nursing home, he told Gov. Don Siegelman in an interview that he had not seen the beating.

The judge refused funds for Baldwin's defense. The court-appointed lawyer spent very little time with Baldwin and called no defense witnesses, although Baldwin had some who could attest to his beating by police. Baldwin's fingerprints were found in the car. He was not indicted for the rape. The robbery of the car and violence against the victim were aggravating factors used to justify the capital charge of first-degree murder against him.

There was no physical evidence tying Baldwin to the murder: he had no blood on his clothes (in contrast to Horsley), and there were no Baldwin fingerprints on the murder weapon. (Note: Forensic analysis determined that the murder was committed by a left-handed person, but Baldwin was right-handed. The defense did not obtain the latter evidence until 1999; the prosecution had not made it available at the time of his trial and the jury never heard it.)

The trial and conviction were completed in 1 1/2 days, August 8 and 9, 1977.

Baldwin was convicted by an all-white jury, although the population of the area of the jury pool was 46% black. (Exclusion of African Americans from a jury in such cases, where they form a significant part of the local population, was ruled as unconstitutional in Batson v. Kentucky by the United States Supreme Court). Baldwin's parents were not informed of his whereabouts until after he was convicted of capital murder.

Appeals

There were multiple appeals on the conviction and trial proceedings, based primarily on the following issues:

• Failure to advise suspect of rights, including right to counsel
• Coerced confession under torture
• Ineffective defense counsel
• Racially biased jury selection

The first appeal, as to whether Alabama had jurisdiction to try the case, because the kidnapping and robbery occurred in North Carolina, was heard by Judge Robert E. Lee Key, although he had presided over Baldwin's conviction. It is normally accepted in law that the same judge cannot preside over a hearing to appeal his own case. It was settled that Alabama had jurisdiction because the murder was committed there.

Horsley before his execution had testified in writing in 1985 that he alone had committed the murder of Rolon and that Baldwin had not known of her death. This was not given to Baldwin's counsel until after Horsley's execution in 1996.

Baldwin's case was taken to the Supreme Court, with 33 senior judges and prosecutors signing a letter supporting Baldwin. The Supreme Court declined to reverse the conviction on murder and the death sentence. The Pope, former president Jimmy Carter, the Archbishop of Mobile, Alabama; 26 members of the Congressional Black Caucus of the United States Congress, and Coretta King, widow of Martin Luther King, petitioned to prevent Baldwin's execution, but they were unsuccessful.

During an investigation in 1999, in an attempt to recover case evidence for DNA analysis (not available at the time of the trial), it was found that all evidence in the case was lost or destroyed after Baldwin's execution.

See also

• Capital punishment in Alabama
• Capital punishment in the United States
• List of people executed in Alabama