Nevada Inmate Released From Prison After 33 Years on Death Row
FREE MAN
Paul Browning was released from Ely State Prison on Wednesday after spending 33 years on death row. Browning, 63, was convicted of murder and sentenced to death for the 1985 stabbing of Las Vegas jeweler Hugo Elsen, The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. Thirty three years later, he was freed due to a 2017 opinion from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that found “a mixture of disturbing prosecutorial misconduct and woefully inadequate assistance of counsel” led to “extreme malfunctions” at his murder trial. District Judge Douglas Herndon dismissed the murder conviction, but Browning, who has always maintained his innocence, stayed behind bars because prosecutors asked to postpone the ruling to appeal the decision with the Nevada Supreme Court. Browning was able to walk free on Wednesday after Herndon lifted the hold. “I just want to find a little bit of peace after coming through all this madness,” he told the Review-Journal.