Utah appeals ruling that cleared woman of murder

LYNN DeBRUIN
Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - State lawyers are appealing to the Utah Supreme Court a ruling that exonerated a woman after she served 17 years in prison for the murder of a Logan man.

Debra Brown has been free since May after becoming the first inmate exonerated under a 2008 Utah law allowing convictions to be overturned based on new factual - not scientific - evidence.

The Utah Attorney General's office filed its opening brief Tuesday claiming 2nd District Judge Michael DiReda erred in finding Debra Brown factually innocent in the Nov. 6, 1993 murder of 75-year-old Lael Brown, no relation.

DiReda based his ruling on a witness who saw Lael Brown alive later the same day prosecutors claimed the defendant shot him.

Debra Brown has maintained her innocence but admitted forging the victim's checks.

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