Clemency for Susan Brown

My name is Linda-Marie Miller. I am a 65 -year-old woman committed to Clemency for a 50-year-old woman named Susan Brown who has been wrongly incarcerated for the last 20 years. I will not quit until she is released.

I was introduced to Susan one year ago as a possible curator of her amazing art. It was only after I learned more about her and her story that I became committed to her release from prison.

She was convicted to life in prison for killing a man that sexually assaulted her and stabbed her in the abdomen when she was 7 months pregnant. As often happens in sexual assaults, Susan was blamed for defending herself during the attack.

What has happened to Susan is criminal. She was victimized by her assailant and then the justice system she trusted to get it right victimized her again. What she didn't know at the time was that without the funds to defend herself, she was left to the inattention of an overworked public defender who didn't have the time or the interest to prepare her defense. Her attorney did not submit the evidence she had and did not call the witnesses she offered to speak in her defense. Her attorney may as well have been working for the other side.

Susan had no criminal past. She was simply a hard-working mother of 4 children that was the victim of a sexual assault.

I truly believe that if she had had money or was white, she would not be in prison.

She was offered a plea deal of 12-20 years, but refused to say she was guilty because she was the victim of a crime and was defending herself. She was represented by an incompetent public defender that only met with her briefly before the trail. The trial was performative and the prosecution wanted her punished for not simply taking a plea deal. If she had taken the plea deal, she would have been released years ago.

The system is not designed for innocent people to stand up, declare their innocence and refuse to plead guilty. Refusing to accept a 12-20 year plea deal infuriated them and they retaliated by vigorously seeking life in prison.

She has suffered enough. Enough is enough. It is time for her to be returned to her loving family and friends.

A Clemency package was prepared on her behalf by the Michigan Women's Justice and Clemency Project and formally submitted to Governor Gretchen Whitmer in August of 2022, but that is not enough. Successful Clemency efforts require a campaign of awareness and that campaign costs money. In addition to the costs of campaign, an attorney will be engaged to determine if there are any legal action that can be initiated as a result of newer laws in Michigan that give a woman the right to defend herself during a sexual assault. These laws did not exist when she was attacked, and the laws are not retroactive.

Despite all that has been done to Susan she continues to be a giver in the world. While incarcerated, she has been a mentor to other prisoners, a mother to her own children, a dutiful daughter to her aging mother (90 years old) and an advocate from the inside for reform in the domains of domestic violence and victim blaming and death by incarceration via long unwarranted sentences.

She is also a talented artist whose work has been exhibited internationally in galleries and art shows. Through her artistic work that has been exhibited in many galleries, her voice is heard outside of the prison walls. Her work is amazing

Susan's health is at risk. She is diabetic and insulin dependent and in a high-risk environment at risk of COVID, rampant mold and scabies. There are no masks available to the prisoners. She is severely hearing impaired and only permitted one hearing aid which also puts her at risk in an environment where being able to hear what is happening around you is crucial for your own safety.

Susan is not the only female victim of rape that has been blamed and incarcerated. It is an epidemic in this country, and it is a stain on our country.

Please help me gain justice for this wrongly incarcerated woman. I will not stop until Susan Brown receives Clemency and is released from prison but I need your help.

Please donate to this fund to cover the expenses incurred in seeking Clemency for Susan Brown. Travel expenses to meet with legislators and attend release rallies, postage and print costs for flyers, postcards and banners, phone expenses for daily contact with Susan and others helping with the project, legal expenses and materials for her artistic creations that are sold to fund the care of her 90-year-old mother until Susan's Clemency is granted.

Before meeting Susan, I was not at all educated in how the criminal justice system worked in the United States. The more I learned about it, the more I realized that it really should be called a "Criminal" justice system, because the system is indeed criminal.

I am committed to Susan receiving Clemency by the end of 2023 and to meet that goal, I need your help.

Please take a moment to make a donation so that I am successful in getting this amazing woman out of prison and back to her family.

To learn more about Susan and her story, please visit:

https://linktr.ee/clemencyforsusanbrown