Brown v. State

After a jury trial, Anthony Demetrius Brown was found guilty of the felony murder of Veronica Norwood during the commission of aggravated assault, criminal damage to property in the second degree, and hindering a person making an emergency telephone call. The trial court entered judgments of conviction and sentenced Appellant to life imprisonment for murder, a consecutive five-year term for the property damage charge, and 12 months for hindering an emergency call. A motion for new trial was denied, and Brown appeals. 1. Construed most strongly in support of the verdicts, the evidence shows that the victim was Brown’s girlfriend, resided with him in a rented mobile home, and was verbally and physically abused by him. The victim began residing with her friend Kerlanda Reynolds and, on May 25, 2003, the two women went to the mobile home to retrieve the victim’s belongings. Brown’s cousin Antwan McBride also came to the mobile home. After Brown and the victim had argued for some time, Brown struck her, causing her mouth to bleed. When the victim exited through the front door, Brown pushed her off the steps to the ground and poured gasoline on her, some of which got on him. Brown followed the victim back inside, asked McBride and Ms. Reynolds for a lighter, lit a paper towel on a hotplate, and went to the master bathroom where he threw the paper onto the victim, causing her to burst into flames. When Ms. Reynolds attempted to call 9-1-1, Brown snatched the phone from her hand and hung it up, causing her to flee to a neighbor to call 9-1-1.

After McBride began to drive Brown and the victim to the hospital, they were stopped by a deputy and told to wait for an ambulance. Brown told paramedics that he and the victim were mowing grass and had to get more gasoline and that, as they were entering the shower, he decided to smoke a cigarette and lit it, and they both went up in flames. They were taken to the hospital and eventually airlifted to another hospital. On July 15, 2003, Brown told investigators that, as he was leaving, the victim swiped him with a piece of paper with gasoline on it, they became covered in gasoline as they struggled over a gasoline can and, when he went into the bedroom, the victim was holding a lit match which she dropped when he drew back and she may have thought that he was going to hit her. The victim, who suffered third-degree burns over 90 of her body, remained in a medically induced coma for several months and died just two weeks after returning home.