Adam Braseel, a wrongly convicted murderer who maintained his innocence, is exonerated
Adam Braseel has been a free man for over two years, but now it’s real. Braseel, his attorney said, is Tennessee’s first convicted murderer to be exonerated.
Braseel was among 16 other executive clemency cases announced Thursday by Gov. Bill Lee. His case was the only exoneration, and it was a long time coming. The announcement caps a tumultuous legal battle that has spanned parts of two decades, ever since he was convicted of killing a man in 2006. It's a charge he always denied.
An exoneration is the highest act of clemency under Tennessee law and it means Lee does not believe Braseel committed the crime for which he was convicted.
On Thursday, when Braseel and a reporter played phone tag — calling each other back and forth — he brushed it off. “If I should have anything it should be some patience,” he said, making reference to the 12 years he spent in prison.
Simply put, Braseel is a thankful man. His focus is to roll with the punches of whatever life throws at him, and make the best of every day.
“Life is just full of uncertainties and you really don’t know until you know,” he said.
The news of his exoneration didn’t begin smoothly, though. On Thursday morning, Braseel got an urgent message to contact his attorneys. When he couldn’t reach them, his mind began to race, wondering if something had gone wrong.
Maybe the state was going to retry his case. Maybe something fell through. Could he post bond? What would he tell his family?
He shouldn’t have worried.
“It's a really challenging situation to go through what I've been through and not think negative and not go that negative route. ... But interestingly enough, I can say I’m completely exonerated today and not have to worry about it no more ever again.
“You don’t know until you know, and I know now,” he said.
What happened?
Braseel spent 12 years of a life sentence in prison for the killing of 60-year-old Malcom Burrows, who died on a rural road near Tracy City in Grundy County in 2006. He was connected to the murder after being identified in a photo lineup. No forensic evidence ever tied him to the crime.
In 2015, Twelfth Judicial Circuit Judge Justin Angel threw out the guilty verdict and ordered a new trial, freeing Braseel for months before the state Court of Criminal Appeals overruled that decision and sent him back to prison.
He was granted a new trial two years later when fingerprints found on the passenger door handle of Burrows' car at the murder scene didn't belong to Braseel. They actually belonged to Kermit Eugene Bryson, a local felon who killed himself two years later while on the run for killing Shane Tate, a Grundy County deputy. The men resembled each other, both with small builds and red hair.
That retrial ended in 2019 when Braseel was entered what’s known as an Alford plea — meaning he didn’t admit guilt but acknowledged there was enough evidence to convict — to aggravated assault. He had already served more time than that conviction would have allowed.
His choices were to enter an Alford plea and go home that day, he said, or fight the charge and stay in prison until it all concluded, whenever that would be. It was a hard choice because the mark of felon would remain on his record.
No longer.
Lee’s announcement follows a unanimous 2020 Tennessee Board of Parole decision that recommended Braseel for exoneration.
Since his release, Braseel has kept an active social media presence where he celebrates milestones and shares interviews where he talks about keeping faith in impossible circumstances.
This fall he celebrated his one-year anniversary with his wife, Racquel, and they made shirts saying he survived one year of marriage. The two live in Jacksboro where he works at Lifetime Docks.
Tyler Whetstone is a Knox News politics reporter focusing on Knoxville and Knox County.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Adam Braseel, convicted murderer who maintained innocence, exonerated
