Retarded inmate ordered released

A mentally retarded man charged with robbery and murder 14 years ago, but ruled incompetent to stand trial and held at a state mental health hospital ever since, was ordered freed Monday after a judge dismissed the case against him.

Floyd Brown, a 43-year-old Anson County man with an IQ of 50, was charged in the robbery and beating death of 80-year-old Katherine Lynch in 1993. He was found at the time to be incompetent to stand trial and ordered held at Dorothea Dix Hospital, because prosecutors who believed him dangerous refused to drop the case against him.

"Somehow, it is possible for him to be held until he dies," said Durham County Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson. "To me, it doesn't seem right."

Brown left the courthouse with two Durham County sheriff's deputies and his attorney for Dorothea Dix, where he will spend at least one more night. His family is looking for a group home for Brown, who will continue to need care following his release from state custody.

"I feel alright. I'm happy," Brown said as he left the courthouse, accompanied by his father and sister. "It's a whole lot better." Brown's relatives said it always was clear he didn't commit the crime.

"The system we looked to to protect him just failed. Anybody who looked could see he didn't do it, but nobody cared," said Brown's sister, Frances Staton. "The 14 years are gone. I can't bring them back. The main thing now is, he's free."

Authorities in Anson County have said Brown confessed to using a walking stick to beat Lynch in her home, just down the street in Wadesboro from the house he shared with his mother. In the confession, Brown said he struck Lynch five times after she refused his request for a dollar, telling Brown she didn't have any money to give him.

But his attorneys challenged the validity of the confession, calling a pair of expert witnesses Monday who said the flowing narrative language of the typewritten document that Brown signed didn't match his halting speech.

"His speech is marked by being very repetitive," said Dr. Mark Hazelrig, a forensic psychologist at Dorothea Dix.

The defense also attacked other elements of the prosecution's case, pointing out that the detectives who investigated Lynch's murder later pleaded guilty to federal racketeering charges in unrelated cases. Brown's attorney argued new evidence suggests that the description of the suspect doesn't match Brown, and Lynch's actual time of death was several hours before police claim Brown killed her.

Dave Cloutier, an expert in evidence and a retired state Department of Justice instructor, testified today that much of the evidence had been lost, including the walking stick. He also said there was no evidence that Brown had ever been inside Lynch's house.

"Floyd Lee Brown would not be in Dorothea Dix if it were not for a bogus confession and evidence that has vanished from the Anson County Sheriff's Office," his attorney, Mike Klinkosum, told Hudson. "Mr. Brown has fallen into a statutory black hole."

The hearing before Hudson marked the first time Brown's case was heard outside of Anson County, located southeast of Charlotte on the South Carolina border.

Anson County District Attorney Michael Parker, who had previously said Brown was "too dangerous" to release, said state law doesn't address how to handle criminal defendants such as Brown, whose mental health can't be improved through treatment.

"There needs to be some look at the mental health system for people like Mr. Brown," Parker said. "I'm constantly getting releases from Dorothea Dix who are not competent. We have to dismiss. Then, six months later, they're back in court."

Prosecutors offered Brown a plea deal last year on a charge of voluntary manslaughter, with credit for the time he had spent in state custody. But Klinkosum said when he presented the offer to Brown, it was clear he did not understand what was happening.

A judge later agreed when rejecting a request for a trial, finding that Brown was incapable of assisting with his own defense.