SALT LAKE CITY -- Sitting next to her daughter, Debra Brown shared her joy Wednesday at finally being free and her dismay that her freedom might be snatched away again.
Brown made her first official statement since her May 9 release from prison during a news conference at the offices of Snell & Wilmer.
The past few weeks have been a nonstop adventure, Brown said.
"I feel like an adult infant in the world," she said. "Everything is new."
She is amazed by things modern Americans take for granted, including cellular phones, the size of televisions and walking on carpet.
"That stuff blows my mind away," Brown said.
Brown was convicted of and sent to prison for the 1993 murder of Lael Brown, her friend and former employer, who was no relation. The Rocky Mountain Innocence Center at the University of Utah has worked on Brown's case since 2002, eventually freeing her in May.
Brown's adventure almost came to a screeching halt when she received the call from her attorney that Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff would appeal the ruling.
"I got hysterical, I'm not going to lie to you," Brown said. "I already did the victory dance. I already put this behind us."
However, she said she trusts the legal team that freed her in the first place.
"I have faith in my Dream Team, I have faith in the Heavenly Father," Brown said. "The system? I don't know if they have a format they follow."
Rocky Mountain Innocence Center President Jensie L. Anderson and Director Kathryn Monroe said they knew an appeal was possible after Brown's release, but they were put at ease by Shurtleff's initial comments that the ruling would not be appealed.
They said they were just as surprised by Shurtleff's turn-around, but are prepared to go forward with the case.
Brown's case has not opened the floodgates on similar appeals from other prisoners, which would fall to the hands of the Rocky Mountain Innocence Center.
"If there was a floodgate," Monroe said, "we would have seen it."
Even with the news, Brown is enjoying her freedom. She said she spends 80 percent of her days in bliss.
She spends her time hopping from house to house, staying with different family members and friends. Her youngest daughter, Alana Williams, took Brown to get a makeover last week.
Besides adjusting to a new world, Brown has had to reconnect with her family, especially her three children and seven grandchildren.
Williams, who was 11 when her mother went away, said the process is slow.
"I can't connect with her all at once," she said.
To make sure she is around for her family, Brown said she has become more health conscious, exercising and eating correctly.
"I want to live to be 150, just to make up time."
Because the case is under appeal, neither Brown nor her attorneys could discuss facts or legals aspects of the case.
When contacted for comment, the Utah Attorney General's Office referred the public to comments from a news conference held last week.
Shurtleff at that time said he would appeal to clarify legal issues and that he was not seeking to have Brown return to prison. He said later that decision would be made by the Utah parole board if Brown is again convicted.
Comments