PRINCE FREDERICK, Md. – A Calvert County man who was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 1978 has finally been freed after 45 years behind bars.
Alfred Brown, now 64, was arrested at the age of 19 on charges of armed robbery and assault with the intent to commit rape. He plead guilty to attempted rape expecting to only get 15 years.
“I used to tell the parole board they were going to get tired of seeing me,” said Brown. “I would go in and smile, tell them, ‘You are going to get tired of seeing me, sooner or later,’ and I did everything possible where you couldn’t turn me down.”
The victim of the case was an 82-year-old white woman of Prince Frederick. Some speculation has led members of Brown’s family to believe race played a role in his conviction and that Brown did not commit the crimes he was found guilty of.
Brown was by all accounts a model prisoner and had been recommended for release four different times. He was denied parole every single time by the sitting governor.
Now officially free as of Thursday, September 7th, Brown can finally do the one thing he has been wanting to do for decades: sit down and have dinner with his family.
“He kept his character and spirit. It’s what brought this to pass in the end. Others would have given up long ago or would have become bitter,” said Sonya Kumar of the ACLU.
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How about the victim. 82 yr old white female!! Perhaps race played a part in attacking her. She had to live with that terror for the rest of her life.
The same speculation could be made for him not committing the crime. Especially with 5 separate governors denying him parole. The system HATES to admit when it was wrong.
It’s amusing how any white on black crime is automatically labeled as racist, black on white crime is never labeled racist but the punishments are?
You must have studied history in Florida. The numbers are not comparable to white on black crime in the history of this country. You do know that crimes date back longer than 10 years. SMH.
Granted she had to live with ~10 years of ‘terror’, whereas Mr. Brown had to deal with 45 years. Contrary to that, Mr. Joshua Gantt betrayed the trust of his family and friends by molesting a family friend’s child over a 4-year period. Mr. Gantt repeatedly introduced trauma, fear, and suffering into a pre-teen’s life and was given a mere sentence of 10 years active incarceration with the possibility of parole after 5 years. That child has lost out on aspects of a “normal” childhood and is looking towards a future where some sort of psychological support will be warranted.
Yes, armed robbery is a big crime here, but to me Mr. Brown served over his time. Give up on this white/black stuff and work on ensuring the punishments fit the crime!
Murders don’t even get 45yrs, he has done his time, hope he enjoys his freedom
He will be back. Who knows at what cost to the public.
What a hateful comment..
until I review the case,I won’t say welcome home, but I will say culture shock. No payphones, electric cars, ATMs, anymore rotary dial? guns are hard to get!, oh yeah, self- checkout (how’d that happen?), stick -shift (cars) are hard to find. yeah, motel rooms with no keys, things have changed. credit cards with chips that you don’t press any longer. you order dinner by pressing- the- screen. And, some good news, Roe v. Wade (Doe v. Bolten) got over- turned! Gosh, thats not all that has changed. Oh, excuse me, this website, the internet. Cannabis is legal, cannabis is legal, cannabis is legal.
so sorry to see what has happened to Owen Shroyer.
When we moved here, I couldn’t believe we had stepped back in time until a good friend told us SoMD was about 40 years behind the rest of the country. Here again is proof she was/is correct.
You should move back if you don’t like it here.
The 82 year old woman’s race isn’t important to the family and the ACLU, but they still call HIS conviction racist.
“Some speculation has led members of Brown’s family to believe race played a role in his conviction and that Brown did not commit the crimes he was found guilty of.”
As the article stated, he plead guilty.
To all that support and welcome him we thank you, for those that leave negative comments we thank you also, because it just makes us stronger as a unit. Always keep in mind you or one of your love ones can also be on this side of the legal system as a victim or suspect so always keep in that mind, be careful what you post and what you say about someone it could be you or your family one day. I ask that God continue heal those with hate in their hearts.
If course…,a black man (who supposedly did this) would never do that to a white woman! Let a white man supposedly do that to a black female and he would be under the jail! GTFOH! Yet there’s white privilege! Ha! I’m not saying this man did it or not but come on! If he did do it he deserved to spend the time he did same as f the roles were reversed. Stop the racist BS all the way around!!!