Shawn Brown

Wrongfully Convicted: August 18, 2010
Exonerated: April 6, 2021
Calhoun County

Shawn Brown’s infant son tragically died in January 2010. Instead of recognizing that Brown had done nothing wrong, police and prosecutors pursued Brown as a murder suspect. His conviction was based on testimony from doctors indicating that the child’s death had been due to “shaken baby syndrome”/ “abusive head trauma.” The SBS/AHT theory has resulted in many innocent parents and caregivers being charged with crimes they did not commit.

Brown served nearly a decade in prison before the new evidence presented by the Innocence Clinic demonstrated that he had not in fact abused his son, and his son’s death was likely caused by accidental or natural causes. Brown was released on parole in 2019. The Michigan Court of Appeals vacated his conviction that same year. Finally, the prosecution dismissed all charges in April 2021, at which time Brown was fully exonerated.

More details available at:

• The National Registry of Exonerations: Shawn Brown
• Battle Creek Enquirer: Charges dropped in baby death after father completed his prison sentence
• Associated Press: Manslaughter conviction overturned in shaken baby case