Brown was convicted of robbery in 1980, although the rental car used in the crime had been leased to a different Joyce Ann Brown, who lived in Denver, Colorado. The defendant had a strong alibi, as she was at work at the time of the crime. The conviction was based on eyewitness identification and on testimony of a cellmate that she had confessed. Following investigations by 60 Minutes, The Dallas Morning News, and Centurion Ministries, an appeal was filed. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals set aside Brown’s conviction because of prosecutorial misconduct: they had not revealed that the prosecution witness had been convicted of perjury, and it was not revealed that she received a reduced sentence after testifying.
