Brian Parnell has been in prison for 20 years, serving a life sentence without parole for a crime he has always maintained he did not commit. 

Four years after the murder of a local pizza shop owner, West Goshen PA detectives relied on two partial fingerprints to link Brian to the crime, despite DNA evidence found at the scene that excluded Brian as a suspect. 

After a hasty two-day murder trial Brian was convicted of second-degree murder and  sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison. Brian’s defense counsel failed to point out that no DNA connects Brian to the crime and didn’t call numerous alibi witnesses and family members who saw the ankle injury that had left Brian on crutches several weeks before the crime.

For the last two decades, Brian and his loving family have fought tirelessly to appeal his conviction. 

Brian’s case has many red flags, ranging from crime scene evidence to the trial itself. 

-The only evidence law enforcement used to tie Brian to the crime four years later were two partial fingerprints found on a window screen. This was the case even though the prints were partial and there were questions about the chain of custody of the evidence. The detective was so confident in this match that he didn’t check the many other candidates who also matched the partial prints. 

-DNA evidence on hairs found on a nylon mask at the scene does not match Brian, yet detectives have not compared it to the profiles in the national database. The actual murderer is still at large.

-Brian was with his cousin Maurice on the night of the crime, but Maurice was never called to testify in court and Brian’s alibi was never brought into court for consideration.

-Numerous witnesses can confirm that Brian had an injured ankle and was on crutches at the time of the crime, which makes it inconceivable that he could have broken into a house by climbing through a window.

-The victim’s employees, business partner, and acquaintances all knew he kept large amounts of cash in his home. Yet Brian had no connection to the victim, had never visited the business and did not spend time in West Goshen.

We have created a website to help people understand the crime and what went wrong in Brian's case - and why he shouldn't be incarcerated for a crime he did not commit.

What we can do: While Brian is fighting for his exoneration, he also has filed a commutation application with the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons seeking to change his sentence to life with parole so that he can have the opportunity to return home on parole and be with his family while continuing to fight to clear his name. Please help us engage the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons to review the circumstances of Brian’s case and help an innocent person come home. 

Who we are: Making an Exoneree is a program that seeks to exonerate wrongfully convicted individuals. Founded by Professors Marc Howard and Adjunct Professor (and exoneree) Martin Tankleff, the program began as a course and student-driven initiative at Georgetown University. In just four years, it has already helped to exonerate three people, Valentino Dixon, Eric Riddick, and Keith Washington, who had wrongly served a total of 69 years in prison. 

Visit JusticeForBrianParnell for more information about Brian and his case. 

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