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Bryan Frazier

Other Suffolk, MA, Exonerations
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On October 23, 2003, police in Boston, Massachusetts chased a stolen car until it crashed. The following day, police arrested 20-year-old Bryan Frazier at a grocery store where he worked part-time in the meat department.

At the time, Frazier claimed that the officers beat him savagely during the arrest. He was later taken Faulkner Hospital where he was treated for multiple injuries, including a fractured ankle and multiple bruises.

Frazier was charged with receiving a stolen motor vehicle, failing to stop for police, reckless operation of a motor vehicle, and leaving the scene of property damage.

He went to trial in Suffolk County’s Dorchester District Court in September 2004. A police officer testified that as he approached the vehicle after it crashed, he saw four males flee. He said he saw Frazier climb out of the driver’s seat into the back seat and exit the vehicle. The officer admitted that it was after dark, that the rear window of the car was tinted, and that he “didn’t have a very clear line of sight into the vehicle.”

At the conclusion of the prosecution’s evidence, Frazier’s attorney called him to testify in his own defense that he was not in the vehicle at all. However, the trial judge barred Frazier from testifying because the defense attorney had failed to file a notice to call an alibi witness.

On September 24, 2004, the jury convicted Frazier of receiving a stolen vehicle and acquitted him of the other charges. He was sentenced to 2½ years in prison.

On March 28, 2006, the Massachusetts Court of Appeals reversed the conviction and ordered a new trial. The court ruled—and the prosecution conceded—that the trial court should not have barred Frazier from testifying because the rule regarding alibi testimony does not apply to a defendant.

On April 4, 2006, Frazier was released from prison on parole. On June 1, 2009, the prosecution dismissed the charge.

In 2010, Frazier filed a state court lawsuit seeking compensation from the state of Massachusetts. However, after a trial, the jury declined to award compensation.

– Maurice Possley

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Posting Date: 3/19/2018
State:Massachusetts
County:Suffolk
Most Serious Crime:Possession of Stolen Property
Additional Convictions:
Reported Crime Date:2003
Convicted:2004
Exonerated:2009
Sentence:2 years and 6 months
Race/Ethnicity:White
Sex:Male
Age at the date of reported crime:20
Contributing Factors:Mistaken Witness ID
Did DNA evidence contribute to the exoneration?:No