A Vermont Law School student spent the summer shadowing a North Carolina lawyer in a case where two innocent men finally saw justice after 31 years in prison on a rape and murder conviction — making international headlines and forever changing the lives of the defendants and their defense team. Christopher Knowles ’15, a juris doctor candidate at VLS, worked closely with Leon Brown’s defense attorney Ann Kirby. Together they pored over thousands of pages of trial transcripts, discovery documents, and forensic reports in the case of Brown and his half-brother Henry McCollum, who were sentenced to death for the 1983 rape and murder of 11-year-old Sabrina Buie. Last week, a judge ordered the release of Brown and McCollum based upon new DNA evidence.
“In October of 1984, in a rural North Carolina courthouse, a vengeful and dishonest prosecutor used Leon and Henry’s coerced confessions to convince a jury to convict, despite the fact that not one piece of physical evidence linked them to the crime,” said Kirby. “On September 2, 2014, I sat beside Leon Brown in that same courthouse as a judge ordered his and Henry’s immediate release from 31 years in prison, based upon their innocence. Recent DNA testing has proven that another man raped and murdered Sabrina.”
Knowles, who works in VLS’s South Royalton Legal Clinic, proved a vital member of the defense team, Kirby said.
“Chris has shared in the joy and relief of that historic moment, as well as the sadness, anger and outrage evinced by the grievous injustice done to Leon and Henry,” she said. “Chris’ commitment and hard work in Leon’s case was invaluable. I am fortunate to know Chris as a trusted colleague and I am proud to count him as a dear friend. Vermont Law School is fortunate to have Chris and should be proud to count him among its finest students.”
In addition to Kirby, the third-year VLS student worked closely with forensic consultants and the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission, a state agency that examines post-conviction claims of factual innocence, including older cases where DNA evidence hadn’t been available.
“I spent a lot of time looking for evidentiary mistakes, things that were admitted that shouldn’t have been,” said Knowles, who, in addition to a full course load at VLS, studies economics at Johns Hopkins University.
Knowles plans to practice corporate law upon graduation but intends to continue his public service work.
“There’s a stigma in the U.S. that public defenders are underpaid, overworked and removed from their cases,” he said. “Kirby proved that this is not the case for all. She really fought for and adjudicated for her client. It was impressive.”
When not in a classroom or courtroom, Knowles is committed to alleviating poverty in the Caribbean, where he spent his youth. Last summer he established the nonprofit Caribbean Sustainable Development Corporation, which aims to revitalize industries that have gone by the wayside with the onset of tourism, to help the islands achieve economic and agricultural independence.
“Hopefully I can make a difference,” said Knowles. “That’s why I came to law school, to fight against injustice.”
SOUTH ROYALTON, Vt., Sept. 11, 2014–– A Vermont Law School. For more information about clinical training at Vermont Law School, visit www.vermontlaw.edu/academics/clinics-and-externships.