The Cheryl Dee Fergeson Case
On August 23, 1980, sixteen-year-old Cheryl Dee Fergeson, a volleyball player from a visiting high school, was raped and strangled in a Conroe High School restroom. After being reported missing, her body was found by two janitors, Clarence Brandley and Henry "Icky" Peace, in the auditorium sound room loft.
The victim was white, leading to a heated, racially-charged court case due to evidence that the accused, black janitor Clarence Brandley, was convicted and sentenced to death based exclusively on his race. After 9 years on Death Row, Brandley was exonerated and released. Though the judicial system finally admitted Brandley's innocence, none of the judges who perpetrated this tragic farce were charged with corruption. Even though there was evidence pointing to two white males, neither has ever been charged.
In 1991 British investigative journalist Nick Davies published "White Lies" - Rape, Murder, and Justice Texas Style. his investigation of the case. Clarence Brandley's story is also told in the movie Whitewash: The Clarence Bradley Story (2002)
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