What this means for Donyell
Five weeks before trial the prosecutor told the defense Brown had already pleaded guilty and that the prosecutors had not known about Brown’s proffer, though two prosecutors from his own office sat in it in 2021. Brown’s plea came months after he testified.
The April 8, 2024 letter
Assistant District Attorney Paul O. Moyle IV, Homicide Division, Hamilton County, lead trial prosecutor, wrote to Donyell’s lawyer:
- “Brown has entered a guilty plea.” Brown’s plea agreement was signed September 12, 2024 and filed September 13, 2024, four months after the trial.
- “Recently, ADAG Minor and I met with Derik Adam Brown. We did not learn of the proffer until the day before.” The same letter says assistant DAs Leslie Longshore and Collin Campbell, of the same office, were at the November 1, 2021 proffer.
- “The meeting was not recorded, and no formal statement was made or given.” The State’s star witness was met before trial with no recording.
- The letter says the body hand-off was at “a residence on Gloucester Lane.” The detective’s supplement says 4062 Glencoe.
The rest of the prosecution team
- Assistant DA Charles Minor told the court he is “also a special United States Attorney” while U.S. v. Brown was pending in the same district with Brown as the State’s witness.
- In closing, the prosecution told the jury about “the safe in Teakwood.” No safe appears anywhere in the police inventory.
- September 29, 2022: Assistant DA Longshore wrote that there were no NIBIN (ballistics database) reports “in the case file.” A NIBIN lead on a gun in this case had existed since June 11, 2020.
- The State replaced the indictment five weeks before trial and kept the old case open until January 15, 2025.
The prosecutor’s duty in Tennessee is broader than the constitutional minimum: Rule of Professional Conduct 3.8(d) and Board of Professional Responsibility Formal Ethics Opinion 2017-F-163 require disclosure of all evidence that helps the defense, as soon as reasonably practicable.
Quotes from police recordings and trial audio come from machine transcripts that are being checked by ear against the recordings. The recordings themselves are the record.