Clarence Lee Brandley (September 24, 1951 – September 2, 2018) was an American man who was wrongly convicted of the rape and murder of Cheryl Dee Fergeson in 1981.
Brandley was working as a janitor supervisor at Conroe High School in Conroe, Texas where Fergeson was a 16-year-old student athlete visiting the school from Bellville, Texas.
Brandley was held for nine years on death row.
After lengthy legal proceedings and community outcry that eventually ended in the Supreme Court of the United States, Clarence Brandley was freed in 1990.
After his release, Brandley was involved in further legal proceedings over child support payments that had accrued over his time in prison, and ultimately with an unsuccessful $120 million lawsuit against various agencies of the State of Texas.