Stay Updated with Brooke

     Brooke Tolliver was arrested on November 25, 1992 with a first degree murder charge which was soon reduced to manslaughter, at trial. Mr. Tolliver was only twenty-one on the date of the arrest and was sentenced to 66 YEARS in total. The incident that led him to being incarcerated transpired the month before, on October 5th. Mr. Tolliver had attended a dance at Howard University where a fight had broken out between two young women, which was instigated by the gunman, Craig Austin. Mr. Tolliver had witnessed Craig Austin retrieve an object from his vehicle then which he proceeded to confront the victim, Ann Smith.

     From Mr. Tolliver’s view, it appeared to him that the gunman had latched on to the back of Ms. Smith’s shirt and fired a shot directly into her head. It was later clarified that Ann Smith had been brutally pistol whipped, she thought that she had been shot. The gun discharged and miraculously, it only grazed her head. She endured lots of pain as well as trauma and could have easily died from the attack. After seeing this, Mr. Tolliver immediately tried going for the gunman’s weapon to prevent anyone else from getting hurt.

     Mr. Tolliver and the gunman tussled back and forth which ended deadly. Brooke Tolliver was very fearful fighting for his life and had no choice but to defend himself. It was the gunman’s desire to murder Mr. Tolliver. The battle for the weapon got underway, the gunman pointed the barrel of the gun in Mr. Tolliver’s face as he simultaneously tried getting ahold of the trigger, all while screaming that he was going to not only shoot, but also kill him. Mr. Tolliver’s life flashed before his eyes and expeditiously disarmed the gunman. 

     In this case, Brooke Tolliver was not only wrongfully convicted, but also, evidence were tampered with. The prosecutor, Mr. J. Edward Agee allowed the gunman’s friends/family to testify against Mr. Tolliver, which was bias, when there were many others who witnessed the full incident. The prosecutor decided to exclude the Medical Examiner who had performed the autopsy from testifying at Mr. Tolliver’s trial. It is unusual for a prosecutor to deny the only qualified person to give a uncontroversial and thorough detailed account to allow the jury to determine their decision. It is clear that the prosecutor had ulterior motives, one of those reasons being that Mr. Tolliver was allegedly a well known drug dealer.

     Over the course of 27 years of being incarcerated, Mr. Tolliver has obtained a college degree in culinary arts and welding while maintaining great behavior. He is extremely remorseful and aware of the hurt that he has caused to the gunman’s family. Being sentenced 66 years for defending oneself and another human being is very harsh and pretty outrageous to say the least, we believe that he has done enough time and should be given a second chance to be in society. Mr. Tolliver was practically given a life sentence. This petition is to bring light to this case and the injustice involved within it.

     Nothing about this case was equitable. The victim, Ms. Smith was labeled as a “troublemaker”. Mr. Tolliver should be recognized as a hero in this case, not a villain. He is very aware that he indeed committed a terrible crime. He acted as a Good Samaritan to protect an innocent woman from a violent gunman. He was 21 years young at the time of the crime and is now 49 years of age, he has spent majority of his adult life in a cage. We pray for the day he is able to be released. Mr. Tolliver has magnificent plans for when he reaches home, he puts his faith into God and is confident that someday this will all end well and in his favor.

     Mr. Tolliver has an upcoming parole hearing, June of 2020. This won’t be his first time going in front of the parole board. We pray deeply that this time he will be granted his freedom/clemency. If he is denied, he will have to continue the dreadful life of incarceration. Our goal is to get him home this year!