Cyntoia Brown must serve 51 years before she's eligible for release, court says

[Jund]

During the interview, the defendant denied that she was a prostitute, denied having sex with the victim, and insisted that the victim, who was nude when found by police, was not nude when he got into the bed with her. Rather, she said that she went from "place to place" in an attempt to find people who would provide her with food and shelter. Thus, she felt comfortable sleeping in the same bed as the victim. She added that she shot the victim because people had beaten and raped her in the past and was "takin' no chances" in the future. When asked why she did not leave when the victim began acting suspiciously, she replied, "you just don't think like that in the heat of the moment. You think like that after the fact." The defendant said that the gun she used was her own; she denied that she used one of the victim's guns, which the victim's girlfriend had reported missing, to kill the victim. She also acknowledged that she never saw a gun in the victim's hand and that the victim did not try to rape her. At the end of the interview, the defendant said that the man found inside her motel room at the time of her arrest was a person whom she had met in the motel parking lot shortly before the police arrived.

Detective Robinson testified that after the interview, the defendant told him that she had taken $172 from the victim's wallet. This amount matched the amount of cash recovered from the defendant's handbag. After the interview the detectives allowed the defendant to use the telephone. The detective said that the defendant made two phone calls; during one of the calls, she told the other person that she was "charged with murder and homicide . . . I don't know exactly which words she used, but she was giggling and laughing at the same time. She made a second phone call and was doing the same thing." At one point, the defendant handed the telephone to Detective Baltimore, who told the other person that the defendant had in fact been arrested for murder. The detectives also learned that the defendant spoke to Shocoha Armstrong during the other call.

Shayla Bryant testified that in November 2004, while in jail, the defendant spoke to her and two other inmates, Lashonda Williamson and Sheila Washington, about the victim's death. The defendant told Bryant about the charges she was facing, and Bryant overheard a conversation between the defendant and Williamson in which the defendant "basically said this guy that she was talking to used to send her out to prostitute. And she was mad at him. And the man tried to rape her, so she shot him." Bryant told the defendant that she did not believe the defendant's account because the story "just seemed too perfect." Bryant testified that the defendant then "started laughing." Through notes, the defendant "basically said she shot the man just to see how it feel[s] to kill somebody." Bryant said that the defendant appeared "as jolly as she wanted to be" while discussing the victim's death. Bryant added, "it didn't look like she had any remorse. She didn't cry. . . . She was just there."

The defendant contends that the trial court should not have admitted three photographs taken of the victim at the crime scene and two of the autopsy photographs because they were particularly inflammatory. On appeal, the State contends that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the crime scene photographs because "the photographs were relevant to refute the defendant's claim of self-defense because they showed that [the victim's] hands were clasped and his fingers interwoven when the defendant shot him in the back of the head." Regarding the autopsy photographs, the State argues that the photographs were relevant to establish "the distance between the defendant and the victim when [the defendant] shot [the victim], which was reflected in the nature of the wound . . . ." We agree with the State.

STATE v. BROWN | No. M2007

[Arrk]

So it wasn't self defense and she isn't really remorseful for the killing, huh.

[.𓃉𓁿𓂎𓁿𓃉.]

i'm not surprised it's been 10 hours since the last post

[UncaringNonchala]

Sounds like everyone bought the story she made up in jail... which is stupid, but hey, people are stupid.

Ahem.