Serial Rapist Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison

On Wednesday, February 23, 2022, a Liberty County jury found Ethan Thomas Brown, 36, guilty of Sexual Assault and sentenced him to the maximum of 20 years in prison. The Honorable Mark Morefield of the 75th District Court presided over the two-day trial and stacked this 20-year sentence on top of a 10-year prison sentence Brown received in November 2021 for repeatedly violating bond conditions in a case involving his ex-wife. Brown will begin serving his 20-year sentence for sexual assault after his 10-year sentence from his previous conviction ceases to operate. Brown will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
On the night of March 22, 2012, Brown met a 23-year-old woman at Big Texas Dance Hall in Spring, Texas. The two hit it off and had a great time that night dancing and drinking. At closing time, the woman was too intoxicated to drive so Brown suggested they go back to his place until she sobered up.
She went with him to Whataburger and soon after became uneasy because they were driving for a quite a while. After about an hour, they pulled up to a house and went inside. Brown told her to “get comfortable” and she took her boots off and sat on the bed. The only furniture inside the room were a bed, a tv, and a tv stand. Soon after, Brown started to grope her and pulled down her leggings to perform oral sex. She immediately told him no and struck him repeatedly on top of his head. This angered Brown, who pinned her and forced off her leggings and underwear and held the back of her legs up forcefully as he raped her. In the words of the victim, she was finally able to “squirm away” from Brown, who stormed from the room in anger and did not return for approximately 10 minutes. During this time, the woman thought she was going to die.
The next morning, the woman went to Memorial Hermann Hospital to have a SANE (Sexual Assault Nurse Exam) performed. The nurse documented vaginal trauma, bruising to the back of her legs and on her arms. DNA was collected and sent to the Department of Public Safety Crime Lab for analysis.
She provided a statement to Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office deputies at that time and described the sexual assault.
She provided a photograph of the two from the night before and text messages wherein a number believed to have belonged to Brown said he was sorry for the events from the night before and blamed it on exhaustion. Detectives with Montgomery County showed the woman a photo line-up to identify Brown, but she was unable to. Montgomery County ceased investigating the case at this time and the case went inactive after that. Two CODIS (Combined DNA Index System) “hits” occurred when the DPS Crime Lab analyzed DNA from two other sexual assaults, which occurred in 2018 in Harris County and 2020 in Liberty County, that linked Brown to the Montgomery County investigation. Liberty County investigators reviewed the 2012 Montgomery County investigation and suspected that the 2012 sexual assault had actually occurred in Liberty County and not Montgomery County when they realized that the woman made the statement that Brown said he couldn’t take her back to her vehicle because his truck was loud and would wake his parents up.
With that new information, a photo of Brown’s parent’s house was shown to the victim and she identified it as the house that she was sexually assaulted in. She described how the house was painted a different paint back then, how to get to the bedroom, and the contents of the bedroom to investigators.
Investigators with the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office traveled to the address of Brown’s parents in Liberty County after obtaining a search warrant for the residence. They went inside and discovered that the path to the bedroom was the same as the woman had described and still contained only the items from almost a decade ago. Brown’s father was home at the time and confirmed that the bedroom in question belonged to Ethan.
After leaving the residence, Investigators executed a DNA search warrant for a buccal swab of Brown’s DNA to compare to the DNA found in the SANE kit. The DNA was a match.
Assistant District Attorney Kayla Herrington: “I hope that this maximum sentence gives validation to the women who have been sexually assaulted by Ethan Brown – those who have come forward and those who aren’t quite ready to share their story. The bravery and strength that these women have shown during the investigation and trial should be admired and praised. We could not have done this without them, and I am truly honored to have been able to meet and work with them. I am thankful that the jury saw Ethan Brown for what he is – a serial rapist. Ethan Brown represents the very worst of us, and this verdict shows that the people of Liberty County will not tolerate this disgusting behavior.”
Assistant District Attorney Kevin Barnes: “Ethan Brown is a serial rapist. There is a special place in hell for these kinds of predators; but until that day Ethan Brown has been reserved a special place in TDCJ for the foreseeable future.”
District Attorney Jennifer Bergman: “When a man like Ethan Brown commits a series of violent crimes against women in multiple counties spanning a decade, he is telling us exactly what he thinks about women and accountability. On February 23, 2022, a Liberty County jury informed Brown exactly what they thought about his heinous actions when he was sentenced to the maximum sentence allowed by law for this crime. I would like to thank Kayla Herrington and Kevin Barnes and all of the law enforcement officers involved in this case. It was through their hard work and commitment to bringing justice and closure for Brown’s victims that this rightful sentence was secured. Thankfully, we can all sleep a little better at night knowing that Brown is unable to prey on women in our community, at least for the foreseeable future.”