Clayton County prosecutors will try for the third time to convict two men of killing two others in a seemingly random crime six years ago.
Twice before, juries could not agree on their guilt and each time the judge declared a mistrial. On Monday, a third trial will begin.
“We feel that they’re guilty,” said Clayton County Assistant District Attorney Jason Green, who was the prosecutor in the second trial and again will try to convict Gary Hakeem Brown, 27, and Kevin Michael Brewington, 26, of murder.
“They killed two people,” Green said.
Three trials on the same case because of hung juries is not common. Defense attorney Mawuli Davis said he knows of no such cases.
“I reached out to some other defense attorneys and I haven’t been able to find one who has had to try a case three times. The law allows for another trial. And there’s no limit. [But] it seems at some point it becomes a cost benefit analysis the state will have to do.”
Putting a price on justice is difficult since many of the participants and systems needed for a murder trial are part of the day-to-day court operation.
Nearly 500 prospective jurors will be called for six trials that are scheduled to start Monday, including Brown's and Brewington's.
Three men from Boston were charged with the shooting deaths of Norris Degree and Stanley Brown.
One of the three, Tyrone Brown, was tried for the first time in the case when Gary Brown and Brewington went on trial for the second time last June. Tyrone Brown was convicted and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences.
But in the second trial the jury's final vote was 11-1 guilty for Brewington and 9-3 guilty for Gary Brown. The jury said it was unlikely the vote would ever be unanimous in the cases.
The killings did not receive a lot of media attention. There was nothing to set them apart from other homicides except three people in the case -- two defendants and one victim -- were all named Brown but were unrelated.
Degree had just picked up Stanley Brown after work on March 20, 2006.
It was getting close to midnight and it was raining as they made their way to their homes at the Cobblestone Apartments. In a breezeway, Degree and Stanley Brown encountered three men, according to testimony in the two trials.
But the account of events that night from one witness was confusing and contradictory. That may have been one of the reasons the juries have been unable to get a unanimous vote, defense attorney Davis said.
Shannon Dean testified she saw Degree and Stanley Brown lying face down when they were shot; she was coming from the mailboxes. She also said she saw the shooting from the balcony of her apartment and the two men were on their knees when they were shot. She testified she ran to a window when she heard shots but she also testified she ran away from the window and hid when she heard gunfire.
Davis said the testimony went “against common sense. Most people, when they hear shots, they don’t go running toward the shot. They try to hide.”
Gary Brown’s lawyer, Katrina Breeding, declined to be interviewed for this article.
Stanley Brown was shot eight times and Degree was shot once in the back.
Witnesses identified Tyrone Brown, 29, as the shooter.
“Some of the state’s witnesses, there are some credibility issues with them,” Davis said. “It became difficult for jurors to decide under those circumstances. They want to try to resolve the case, but the credibility makes it difficult for them to convict. We’re prepared to try it again.”
But when is it enough?
Michael Mears, who teaches at John Marshall Law School, said usually “after one or two mistrials” defense attorneys and prosecutors negotiate a plea agreement.
“If they can’t agree on a verdict after three times, the prosecutor has an obligation to consider the nature of the charges ... and the evidence,” Mears said.
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