People across Dallas mourned the death of Joyce Ann Brown on Saturday. Brown, who wrongly served nine years in prison for a crime that she didn't commit, later became an advocate for the wrongly convicted. The Dallas native was 68-years-old.
Brown's daughter, Koquice Spencer, confirmed to media sources including NBC DFW media partner The Dallas Morning News, that Brown passed away Saturday morning. She suffered a heart attack and stroke last Tuesday.
In 2008, NBC DFW's Kristi Nelson reported on Brown's journey.
In May of 1980, Brown was charged with robbing a fur store and killing the owner. Co-workers testified she was at work with them but she was convicted and sentenced for 20 years in prison.
The CBS news magazine "60 minutes" reported Brown's plight. After international attention on her case, Brown was freed on November 3, 1989.
"What sticks in my mind is that the appeals court sent an opinion, and when I read it, it bought the questions of my innocence," Brown told NBC DFW in 2008. "But literally they weren't interested in innocent or guilt. Just simply if they took me to court fairly. How do you take an innocent [person] to court fairly?"
In 1990, she published a book called Joyce Ann Brown: Justice Denied.
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Later she started MASS, Mothers for the Advancement of Social Systems. The non-profit is dedicated to helping those freed from prison get their life together.
"I made a promise in 1986 to my God that not if, but when I was released from that bondage that I would spend the rest of my life, fighting for those who are less fortunate."
