Opinion ID: 2681023
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The murder of Raymond Brown and related crimes.

Text: On the morning of 13 October 2006, Danielle Steele Brown and her husband, Raymond Brown, were awakened by the raucous sound of Mr. Brown’s car alarm. From a window of their dwelling in the Largo area of Prince George’s County, Ms. Brown observed a tow truck towing away Mr. Brown’s car, a black Chrysler 300. The Browns, in an attempt to locate a sign in the community with the name of the company that occasionally towed cars parked illegally in the area, drove in Ms. Brown’s car to the entrance of their community, where they saw the tow truck with the Chrysler attached. According to Ms. Brown’s testimony at trial, Mr. Brown got out of the car and, as Mr. Brown approached the tow truck, a man standing next to the truck ran away. Gunfire came from the driver’s side of the tow truck. Mr. Brown fell to the ground, injured. The tow truck drove away with the Chrysler. Mr. Brown was taken to a local hospital where he died as a result of a gunshot wound to his chest. Later that day, law enforcement officers recovered the Chrysler, which had been abandoned (sans tires and with a broken door window on the driver’s side), as well as an abandoned, stolen Snatchman tow truck with a broken door window on the driver’s side as well. Inside the cabin of the tow truck, the officers found a cartridge casing. When 1 The “facts” we report are those borne out by the State’s presentation of the case and apparently believed by the jury. Alexis disputes much of these “facts.” For purposes of the arguments on appeal, however, the details of this dispute do not add value and, thus, are omitted. -2- the officers “dusted” the vehicles for fingerprints, they were able to “lift” a latent fingerprint belonging to Neiman Marcus Edmonds from the hood of the Chrysler. Corroborating Edmonds’s involvement in the events of October 13, approximately six months after the shooting, Ms. Brown identified Edmonds from a photographic array as the man who had been standing next to the tow truck on the night of her deceased husband’s shooting and ran. According to the testimonies of Edmonds and the other State’s witnesses at Alexis’s trial, Alexis had a history of stealing cars using a Snatchman tow truck 2 for the purpose of stripping the tires off the cars to sell the rims, and then abandoning the car. Some of these witnesses claimed that Alexis admitted to shooting and killing Brown. Edmonds testified that Alexis, Ennels, and he drove to Largo to steal a car in the late evening of 12 October 2006. Alexis drove a stolen Snatchman tow truck. Bobby Ennels drove his car, with Edmonds asleep in the back seat. Alexis backed the tow truck into the Browns’ driveway, put the forks under the Chrysler 300 (which had 22-inch rims), and picked it up. When Alexis picked up the Chrysler, the car’s alarm sounded. Alexis drove the truck (with the car attached) to the front of the community, where Ennels broke the Chrysler’s door window on the driver side and popped the hood so that Edmonds could disable the alarm. 2 Testimony at trial established that, with a Snatchman tow truck, a driver is able to attach to the tow truck (and take) another car by backing the truck up to the car, sliding the forks under the car, and driving the truck away with the car attached. This towing process permits the truck driver to tow the car away without getting out of the truck. -3- As Edmonds disabled the alarm, another car approached. When a man stepped out of the second car, Edmonds ran to Ennels’s car. Edmonds testified that, as he ran to the car, he heard a “slight pow” and glass breaking. Ennels and Edmonds drove to a previously agreed upon meet-up location, where they found Alexis with the tow truck (with a newly broken window) and the Chrysler attached. Edmonds asked Alexis if the man in the second car shot at them; Alexis did not reply. The trio stripped the Chrysler of its tires, “wiped down” the car and the tow truck, and abandoned both vehicles. The next day, according to Edmonds’s testimony, Alexis, Edmonds, and Ennels were at the house of Brian Barnes (a mutual acquaintance) when Alexis told Edmonds that he shot Brown (the man in the second car) because he saw Brown get out of the car with something in his hand. On 27 March 2008, the State charged Petitioner, Jamaal Garvin Alexis, with murder, carjacking, and related crimes with respect to Brown.