'Never apologized to me.' Canton man rebuilding life after DNA clears him of sex crimes
CANTON − It's been some time now since Eric Brunner was in prison, but it's only recently that he has been truly free.
Brunner, who served 13 years for two sex crimes, has slowly been piecing his life back together after being exonerated of the crimes, with help from the Ohio Innocence Project.
Back in 1996, Brunner, now 52, was sentenced to 40 years in prison for rape and attempted rape.
Based on DNA testing performed in 2019, his rape conviction was vacated by Stark County Common Pleas Court Judge Kristin Farmer on Aug. 31.
"It was 13 years, but I've been fighting for almost 30 years, people not believing in me," Brunner said. "They were smiling in my face, but talking about me behind my back. So, it's about clearing my name and stuff."
Why was Eric Brunner in prison?
On the night of Jan. 13, 1996, Brunner and his fiancee were drinking at a downtown bar when they got into an argument. Brunner left the bar on foot and headed to a cousin's house on Seventh St. NE. Several people were at the house, including two women who later accused Brunner of rape and sexual assault which allegedly took place in a darkened bedroom. During the trial, neither of the women could definitively identify Brunner as their attacker.
Nonetheless Brunner was found guilty by a jury and sentenced to 40 years in prison. He was released on parole in 2009 and required to register as a sex offender.
Brunner recalled that when a police officer he knew first informed him that he was a suspect, he voluntarily submitted blood and DNA samples.
"He was telling me at the time they wanted me to come down and take a DNA test because they were gonna put a warrant out on me," he said. "I was like, 'Oh no, you don't have to put no warrant out for me to come take a DNA test; I'll be down there; what time you want me to be there?' They were like, 'Well, we never heard of anybody doing anything like that before. You're the first.' I said, 'I don't got nothing to hide.'"
However in 1996, the advanced DNA technology which would have eliminated Brunner as a suspect, didn't yet exist. During the trial, an investigator from the Stark County Crime Lab testified that a blood sample from the rape kit showed only markers connected to the victim.
Brunner's conviction was upheld following an appeal in 1997. In 2004, he was classified as a sexual predator. That same year, he filed a request for more DNA testing. The motion was granted in 2005 but the results were again deemed inconclusive.
In 2005, an appeal by Brunner to overturn his sex-offender status was unsuccessful.
In 2019, Farmer granted Brunner's request to re-test the DNA in response to a request from the Ohio Innocence Project, which took up his case in 2018.
Ohio Innocence Project helps exonerate 40 Ohioans
Brunner is one of 40 Ohioans who have been exonerated through the efforts of the Ohio Innocence Project, based at the University of Cincinnati School of Law. According to the project's website, exonerated Ohioans have served more than 800 years in prison for crimes they didn't commit.
In 2022, the group secured exoneration for another Canton man who served four years in prison for a crime he didn't commit.
Brian Howe, Brunner's attorney and an assistant professor of clinical law at the University of Cincinnati, pointed out that the more precise test done in 2019 found that the semen found in the victim's rape kit did not match Brunner.
"In Eric's case, he has been consistent in maintaining his innocence; he has never wavered," Howe said. "Most importantly, there was physical evidence we felt would conclusively prove the matter one way or the other. There was sperm found in the sexual assault kit. It was just a simple matter to test whether or not it came from Mr. Brunner."
Howe noted that when the 2005 test was done, the lab skipped the first step of separating out any sperm cells from the material collected.
"So, all they found was DNA from the victim," he explained. "It didn't prove anything because the lab didn't separate out the sperm cells. So, in 2019, what they did was take that extra step. They separated the sperm cells and did the DNA testing on those first, and what they found was a clear male profile, and it didn't belong to Eric Brunner."
Were it not for the Ohio Innocence Project, Brunner said, "I'd probably be dead because I probably would have committed suicide."
In 2022, the Fifth District Court left it up to the Stark County Prosecutor's Office to decide whether it would re-try Brunner on the attempted rape conviction or drop it — a process which took nearly two more years.
No DNA was collected during the investigation of that case.
On Sept. 1, the Prosecutor's Office vacated the conviction.
"That's the day I stopped going to the (sex offender) register," Brunner said. "I was tired. There's never been a warrant out for my arrest to pick me up or anything. I just, I just stopped going to register. I was like, 'I'm done with it.'"
Stark County prosecutor still believes he's guilty
But Stark County Prosecutor Kyle Stone, who took office in 2020, said he remains convinced that Brunner is guilty of the rape charge.
“We support the original 1996 conviction of Mr. Brunner," he said. "There was no evidence presented to this office that would lead us to believe an injustice occurred. However, due to circumstances beyond the control of this office and the difficulties in trying a case nearly 30 years later, our ability to pursue justice efficiently, effectively, and with the utmost integrity would be hindered. Therefore, we are unable to retry Mr. Brunner’s case.”
Howe said he respects Stone, noting that they've worked well together on previous cases, however, "The results are what they are."
"You can't really argue with the DNA results, in our mind," Howe said. "It's conclusive proof that Eric's not responsible for the sexual assault. The Prosecutor's Office was very clear at the time of the trial that they believed the sperm came from the perpetrator; it was conclusive that a rape occurred. It wasn't until we proved that the DNA excluded Eric from that sperm, that's when that office downplayed the importance of the sperm."
Eric Brunner has faced a rocky road to recovery
Meanwhile, Brunner, who was released from prison on Jan. 5, 2009, has struggled to put his life back together, at one time working and living as a maintenance man in a low-budget hotel in downtown Canton, and at fast-food restaurants, all while laboring under his sex-offender status.
He was attacked and beaten by two men connected to one of the victims. The head injuries he sustained required surgery.
His engagement was broken. He also lost an aunt, one of only two people he said always believed in him — the other being his mother.
He has an adult son who lives in Canton but they're estranged. He admits he wasn't a hands-on father.
Prior to his convictions, Brunner said his only previous imprisonment was for narcotics after police found drugs in his car during a traffic stop.
"I think I did a year-and-a-half, but never any violent charges," he said.
But a search of court records show that the 20-something Brunner was no choir boy. He was arrested several times in the early 1990s, mostly on drug-related charges, driving violations and some misdemeanor assault charges for which there was no jail time.
He has moved from Canton to Cleveland to Cincinnati looking for a new start
Last year, Brunner moved to Cleveland where he resided in an Exoneree House with several other men.
"I had no opportunities in Canton," he said. "I couldn't get hired nowhere. I was doing under-the-table jobs and stuff."
He has since relocated to Cincinnati, where he has his own apartment and a job.
He was removed from the sex-offender registry earlier this month.
"I'm happy to be off the registry. That was a big setback," he said.
Brunner said he's waiting for monetary compensation from the state for the time he spent in prison.
What advice does he offer to others who have been falsely accused?
"I'd tell them to keep fighting to prove your innocence, no matter how, how much people talk about you or stab you in the back," he said.
Yet, Brunner admits he's still struggling with some bitterness.
"I kind of feel upset and hurt because nobody never apologized to me," he said. "No one has said, 'Hey, I apologize for mistreating you because I thought you did something that you didn't do. I'm sorry.' But the Bible says that 'The love of many has grown cold.'"
Reach Charita at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com.
On Twitter: @cgoshayREP
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Eric Brunner rebuilds life after DNA clears him of sex crimes
