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Not guilty: Photos tell powerful story of men wrongly convicted of murders, rapes

Billy Watkins
Mississippi Clarion Ledger

Off and on for four years, photographer Isabelle Armand traveled from the deafening noise of New York City to the haunting quiet of east central Mississippi.

Armand was sad and angry that two men from Noxubee County — Levon Brooks and Kennedy Brewer — spent a combined three decades in prison for rapes and murders they didn’t commit.

Levon Brooks loved all kinds of animals. He's shown here holding a baby chick at his home, where he also had turkeys, doves, geese and other birds. From "Levon and Kennedy" © Isabelle Armand.

She was inspired by their forgiving attitudes and their quests to make the most of what life they had left.

She was touched, too, by what she saw through her lens every time she took their picture: “Magic,” Armand says. “They had a very strong faith, and I kept thinking, ‘People don’t really know who Levon and Kennedy are or what they’ve been through.’ ”

Armand’s photographs will appear in her book — “Levon and Kennedy: Mississippi Innocence Project” — scheduled for release on March 27. Tucker Carrington, director of the George C. Cochran Innocence Project at the University of Mississippi School of Law, provided the text.

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Carrington has also co-written a book with Radley Balko about the two men’s convictions — along with several other cases throughout the 1980s and ’90s — and the junk science that cost these men the prime of their lives. “The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist: A True Story of Injustice in the American South” is due out Feb. 27.

(Story continues below photo gallery)

Armand and Carrington wish their books could have been released earlier. Levon died Jan. 24 after a long battle with colon cancer. He was 58.

“Levon did get to see my book,” Armand says. “I’m so glad of that. He received a copy the same day I did — around Dec. 15. He told me he was taking it around (Macon) and showing it to everyone. I knew then he was proud of it.

“And that makes me even happier that the book exists. I’m glad Levon’s legacy and Kennedy’s legacy will always be there for people to see.”

Armand read an article about Levon and Kennedy in 2012, four years after their release from prison when DNA led authorities to a man who confessed to both murders.

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“I was shocked that these men could be convicted by the testimony of two men who seemed to make a living testifying in murder cases,” Armand says, referring to Steven Hayne, Mississippi’s primary pathologist in the late 1980s and early ’90s, and dentist Michael West.“If you read this in a book of fiction, you would say there was no way it could happen.

"From the get-go, I was inspired to tell their story through photographs. But I didn’t know them and didn’t know if they would cooperate.”

Armand wrote to Carrington, whose work helped exonerate the two men, and asked for his help.

“I get requests like this all the time,” Carrington says. “But a lot of times the people are in it for themselves or they’re not very talented. But Isabelle sent along some of her work. She’s a fantastic photographer. And she was persistent.

“I talked to Kennedy and Levon about it, and they agreed to do it. I told Isabelle, ‘I will introduce you to them, but you have to make your own way.’ She came down (in 2013) and we drove to Macon and ate lunch with them at Levon’s favorite place — Trail Boss. Isabelle wound up staying for three weeks.”

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Armand recalls that first trip to see them: “We hit it off. We hung out a lot. And for me, it was love at first sight when it came to Mississippi and Levon and Kennedy and their families.

“I wanted to show people their lives, where they grew up, the places that meant a lot to them as children.”

Levon and Kennedy soon seemed to forget that Armand was always snapping pictures. They lived life and Armand captured it on film.

“Yes, film,” she says. “I wanted black and white photos because that’s the only way to capture depth of field, and I don't think you can get that as well with a digital camera.”

Armand took thousands of photos — more than 900 on her initial trip. She had to select 72 for the book.

1 final photo

Levon Brooks, left, and Kennedy Brewer of Noxubee County spent a combined three decades in prison for rapes and murders they did not commit. They were exonerated and released in 2008. Levon died of cancer on Jan. 24 of this year. From "Levon and Kennedy" © Isabelle Armand.

Near the end of her work, Armand realized there was one photo she hadn’t yet taken: Levon and Kennedy together, just the two of them.

“Those moments of taking that picture, which is on the cover, will stay with me forever,” she says. “We went to this little cafe of Levon’s. I wanted something very meaningful and I got it. A lot of people think they’re just looking at the camera, but to me they’re looking at the world.”

Armand hopes her book makes people “care a little more” and “helps raise awareness that innocent people — good people — are being sent to prison for no reason.”

Carrington’s book is more about the court process that led to their conviction. It focuses on Hayne and West and their frequent collaborations.

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Levon and Kennedy were convicted primarily on West’s claim that their bite marks matched wounds found on the victims.

During a deposition in 2010, West told Tucker: “I don’t believe in bite-mark evidence anymore.”

“I could’ve fallen out of my chair,” Carrington says.

In 2010, the Innocence Project asked the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure to look at Hayne’s medical license. Hayne sued the Innocence Project for defamation of character. The case settled.

Kennedy and Levon sued Hayne and West but lost when it was ruled that the two had immunity for public policy reasons.

“We think this story has national relevance, and we hope the book sheds light on the problem that isn’t just in Mississippi but throughout our justice system,” Carrington says. “We need to know the entire story so that we can all do a better job.”