HOUSTON -- A Houston-area man wrongly convicted in the 1980 killing of a 16-year-old girl has been denied money from a state fund set up to compensate freed inmates. The Clarence Brandley case helped lead to establishment of the fund. The Houston Chronicle reported Thursday that Brandley last week learned his claim over improper imprisonment came too late. Brandley's request also lacked a pardon or a court ruling declaring him innocent.
Brandley was released from death row in 1990 after an appeals court ruled he did not get a fair trial and threw out his conviction for the slaying of Cheryl Dee Fergeson at Conroe High School during a volleyball tournament. Brandley was a janitor.
His lawyers claimed racism. The teen was white. Brandley is black.
Prosecutors later dropped charges against Brandley.
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