An 18-year-old Dallas teen accused of kidnapping Dallas boy, Cash Gernon, is claiming police have the wrong person.
Heath Harris, Brown’s defense attorney, told Dallas Morning News that Darriynn Brown told him that he didn’t break into the home and didn’t kidnap 4-year-old Cash.
“This is not an open and shut case. Even if you believe that’s [Brown] on the video, it doesn’t mean he killed the kid,” Harris said. “The world is basically prejudicing this whole community by saying, ‘That’s him.’”
As CrimeOnline previously reported, a passerby found Cash’s body on May 15, lying in the street in the Mountain Creek neighborhood of Dallas, covered in his own blood at around 6 a.m. The boy’s body was found around a mile away from his home.
Neighbor Antwainese Square, 39, said that she was jogging when she discovered Cash.
“I noticed the baby had ants at the bottom of his feet. So I knew he was deceased then,” Square said. “It was heart-wrenching because this baby could have been no more than 5.”
According to the child’s guardian, identified as his father’s girlfriend, Monica Sherrod, Cash was sleeping in his room when Brown broke into the home’s backdoor and kidnapped him. She added that security footage caught the incident as Cash slept in a toddler crib with his twin brother, Carter.
Footage obtained by DailyMail shows a video of a man who appears to be Brown inside Cash’s bedroom on the night in question. The man in the video is seen grabbing the sleeping boy and fleeing the residence.
On May 15 at around 10:30 p.m., Dallas police arrested Brown and charged him with kidnapping and burglary. Police said although the cause of death has been determined as homicide, they’re still waiting on additional forensic testing results before charging anyone with murder.
Harris added that he watched the surveillance footage online but has yet to receive it from law enforcement. Harris said he also hasn’t reviewed evidence yet but feels there will be proof that Brown has a severe mental disorder.
Brown remains behind bars on a $1.5 million bond. Check back for updates.
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[Feature Photo: Cash Gernon/Family Handout]
