Convicted Houston cop killer on death row wins new trial

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A 32-year-old Houston man sent to death row for the fatal shooting of a police officer more than a decade ago has won a new trial.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals agreed Wednesday that telephone records bolstering Alfred Dewayne Brown's claims of innocence in the death of Houston officer Charles Clark were withheld from Brown's trial in 2005. The phone records surfaced last year as a homicide investigator was cleaning out his garage.

Then-Harris County District Attorney Mike Anderson said a new trial was warranted. Brown's trial judge agreed and sent his recommendation to the appeals court.

"I will now carefully review and evaluate the case to determine the appropriate proceedings," said Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson.

Clark was killed in 2003 during a robbery at a Houston check-cashing store. A store clerk, Alfredia Jones, also was killed.

Clark's sister, Marlene Keele tells Eyewitness News, "I have no words to express how I feel at this time: to go through another trial and the heartache it caused."

Jones' mother, Velma D. Jones, says her daughter was worried about working at the check cashing business alone. In the days before her death she says Alfreda asked her a chilling question: She wanted to know if Velma Jones would promise to care for her two young children if something ever happened to her.

"I told her, 'Oh yeah, ain't nothing going to happen to you, but I promise you I'll take care of them two kids,'" says Velma Jones. The children grew up over the last 11 years, without their mother. Jones says she hopes justice is again served.

Another man, Elijah Joubert, also is on death row for the killings.