First in a two-part series on the Roy Brown case:

Roy Brown has been officially vindicated, with the dismissal Monday of the indictment against him in the 1991 murder of Sabina Kulakowski.

But while this is surely a joyous time for Brown, his family and friends, it's also a dark time for the criminal justice system in Cayuga County.

This does not mean the entire judicial system is broken. But any mistake is one too many, and it's important now to reflect on how this happened.

Even though the jury members in that 1992 murder trial delivered the wrong verdict, they are the least culpable. All they did was make the best decision they could based on the facts presented to them.

More investigation of this case is clearly needed, not only to definitively determine who killed Kulakowski, but also to figure out precisely how the wrong man got put in prison.

Just a quick look at the facts points to shortcomings on the part of multiple parties.

Former District Attorney Paul Carbonaro and the original investigators, at a minimum, engaged in a classic case of tunnel vision. Powerful witness statements that pointed to suspicious behavior by the new lead suspect in the case, the late Barry Bench, never made it to the jury or the defense team.

And an expert witness on bite marks who was leaning toward an opinion that favored Brown was ignored.

Current District Attorney James Vargason inherited the case and secured the conviction. He ultimately did the right thing when he agreed to new DNA testing and finally conceded that Brown should be cleared. But for years Vargason vigorously fought all of Brown's appeals, despite the red flags that were emerging, such as the affidavits about Bench not reaching Brown's lawyers.

Brown's own defense team also deserves some second-guessing. The record shows that the defense knew about the potential expert bite-mark witness and chose not to pursue him for their own case. It's also somewhat troubling that Bench's ex-common law wife, who late last year sent an e-mail to Vargason describing how she believed Bench could have been the killer, is being represented by a member of the Brown legal team - and she is no longer making statements to investigators.

It's true that there was strong evidence pointing to Brown, much of it tied to previous crimes he committed. Some have even said they don't feel bad for Brown because of his past behavior. But that's not the way justice should work. No matter who people are or what they've done, they should not be sent to prison for crimes they didn't commit.

Tomorrow: Creating an innocence commission.