Judge frees Greenville man after DNA evidence in his case goes missing

By Leonardo Bevilacqua | Originally published by Mississippi Today

GREENVILLE — A man who has been incarcerated for nearly 25 years for the rape and killing of 6-year-old Robernisha Webster in 2002 — a crime he says he did not commit — will be released from prison after a judge suspended the remainder of his sentence. 

At a sentencing hearing Monday, Circuit Court Judge Richard A. Smith suspended King Young Brown Jr.’s sentence to resolve an issue revealed in November 2025, after local government officials could not locate DNA evidence crucial to Brown’s appeal of his convictions. State law requires offering a remedy in such cases.

Brown’s attorneys contended the missing evidence might have proved his innocence.

Instead of completing the remaining roughly 25 years of a 50-year sentence, Brown will serve five years of supervised release. He remains a rapist and killer under Mississippi state law. He will also have to register as a sex offender upon release. Brown’s release date was not immediately available.

Smith declined to dismiss Brown’s charges in the absence of exonerating evidence. Brown’s attorneys argued Smith’s decision denied the man’s due process rights. 

There is no remedy for Robernisha’s family.

After the hearing, they said they felt no justice. They wanted accountability for those who allegedly tampered with the DNA evidence critical to Robernisha’s case and undermined a conviction that had granted them some peace of mind.

“It was a slap in the face,” Latasha Carson, Robernisha’s sister, said of the hearing. “And they all want to shake our hands and just pat us on the back and say, ‘We are sorry it ended this way.’ What? No. Somebody needs to be held accountable, shut down, fired or something. Something needs to be done.”

“What is the justice for my family? Where do we go from here?”

Washington County officials lost hundreds of DNA specimens and other evidence

Brown was 15 years old when he was charged with raping and killing Webster. He was convicted after three trials and 13 hours of jury deliberation. He has maintained his innocence.

The missing DNA evidence, ranging from a sexual assault kit to fingernail scrapings, was located as recently as 2023. Smith ordered that it be shipped in September 2025 to a Virginia laboratory for modern DNA testing, for which it had not yet been subjected. But when it came time for the circuit clerk’s office to ship it, it could find none of the over 100 specimens in the courthouse.

Deputy Washington County Circuit Clerk Cynthia Lakes suggested in an affidavit that District Attorney Dewayne Richardson and Assistant District Attorney Austin M. Frye visited the evidence room following a July 28 hearing. Deputy Circuit Clerk Latanya Watson also suggested in an affidavit that Richardson and Frye visited the room that day.

Washington County Circuit Clerk Barbra Esters-Parker wrote in her affidavit that a district attorney’s office employee confirmed over the phone that Frye possessed a box with bags of evidence. When Lakes visited the district attorney’s office the following week, no such evidence bags were in the box.

But an unsigned statement from the district attorney’s office sent Feb. 24 to Mississippi Today said no one at the district attorney’s office “has ever possessed, viewed or handled any of the exhibits and/or physical evidence” since the 2005 trial.

Brown’s attorneys argued that if the evidence was lost, Smith should dismiss the charges against Brown and vacate his sentence. Brown’s attorneys argued that the case against him hinged on microscopic hair comparison, which has since been deemed a pseudoscience in U.S. Department of Justice guidance.

Then in May 2026, Smith canceled a hearing in which public officials were expected to testify about what happened to the missing DNA evidence. He ordered additional filings with testimonies from local officials be sealed to in part shield them from embarrassment. 

Mississippi Today challenged Smith’s decision to keep filings under seal and filed to intervene in the case to ask him to unseal them. Mississippi Today pushed to unseal the filings because investigations into the conduct of public officials was in the public interest.

“The public has a right to know how its elected officials and government employees maintain public safety and how its courts administer justice,” Mississippi Today’s motion reads.

As of Tuesday, all of these items remain sealed.

On Monday, Smith limited discussion of what became of the specimens and who might be responsible.

“What’s striking in this case is that nobody has any explanation for how this evidence could possibly disappear,” Jacob Howard, Brown’s attorney, said Monday. “There was a container with the evidence and some other items. The container’s still there. The other items are still there. All that’s gone is the evidence.”

Smith also blocked Howard from discussing an affidavit from District Attorney Dewayne Richardson detailing the chain of custody of the evidence. Smith also halted discussion of affidavits from circuit clerk’s office employees or other public officials. Some of the circuit clerk’s office affidavits implicated employees in Richardson’s office. 

“And here I’m hamstrung, Your Honor. I just can’t possibly make some bad faith arguments without getting into the details of what’s been provided in the affidavits,” Howard told the court. “I’m asking for permission to be able to make an argument based on the record.”

“I don’t know how else to say it. I think I made my position clear,” Smith countered. 

Smith asked Howard to limit his arguments to cases or the law’s language. He said he felt the bulk of the evidence under seal, including the affidavits, was inconclusive and hearsay. An “innocent” reason can still be behind the disappearance of the specimens, Smith wrote.

Smith said Monday he would enter an order, which would allow Mississippi Today to directly petition Smith to open the court records. But he can still rule to keep the seal in effect.

Whether public officials played a role in destroying DNA evidence in a murder case is squarely within the public interest, and related filings should be unsealed, argued Andrew Coffman, senior staff attorney for the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press, which is representing Mississippi Today. 

Families face incomplete justice and unanswered questions

Unresolved questions are part of why justice felt incomplete for the two families at the center of the case. 

As the Monday proceeding closed, Brown turned in his chair to meet his mother’s gaze. Tears cascaded beneath her black eyeglasses as she smiled. A moment she said she thought about for nearly a quarter century arrived. She and her son would be reunited.

After the hearing, Brown Spencer’s thoughts turned to Thanksgiving. It’d be their first together as a family in decades. She said he always loved the holiday, and the chicken she’d prepare with vegetables. She feels he will adapt well to civilian life too.

While incarcerated at the Marshall County Correctional Facility, Brown began taking college courses through Mississippi Valley State University toward a degree in business administration. He also completed certifications in welding and carpentry.

“He wants to be independent, to support himself. He wants to get an education, and start his life,” Brown Spencer told the court.

The outcome was devastating for the Webster family. Relatives of Robernisha huddled on the bench around her mother. 

Addie Cannon, Robernisha’s aunt, and Carson, Robernisha’s sister, left the courtroom that afternoon for the cemetery. They refreshed the flowers by Webster’s grave. A toy penguin was flush against the stone, which was also engraved with Robernisha’s nickname, “Boo Boo.”

Cannon remembers the sweet and quiet girl who loved to snack. The kindergartener with a warm laugh and a light that none of them thought could ever dim.

Carson reflected on the other disruptions and delays in the case. She drove down for the hearing in May that was abruptly canceled. She reminded the court on Monday that the pain her family bears from the loss of Webster is different than the Brown family’s.

“When I drive three hours to see her, I have to go to a cemetery,” she told the court. “The last picture I had with my sister was when she was 6. We are 15 years apart and those pictures got spots on them. They are fading away.”

This article was originally published by Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Source: Original Article