Opinion ID: 2344370
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Bobby Lee Brown.

Text: Summary : Brown, who has been honorably discharged from the armed forces, and his girlfriend followed through on a plan to rob her eighty-two-year-old great aunt and her sixty-four-year-old great uncle. The great aunt was shot to death and the great uncle was shot and stabbed over ten times with a pair of scissors. The jury found aggravating factors 4(f), escape detection, (as to the female victim) and 4(g), robbery murder, (as to both victims). The jury also found mitigating factors 5(c), defendant's age, and 5(h), the catch-all factor. The jury sentenced Brown to death for the murder of the great aunt and, because the jury could not unanimously agree on a sentence for the killing of the great uncle, Brown also received a life sentence. On appeal of the death sentence, we reversed for flaws in the instruction on the option of a non-unanimous vote on own conduct. The conviction was affirmed, but would be vacated if the State again sought the death penalty. State v. Brown, 138 N.J. 481, 651 A. 2d 19 (1994). The State opted not to seek the death penalty a second time. Brown received two life sentences, with a sixty-year period of parole ineligibility. Comparison: Defendant acknowledges that the victimization in his case was greater than that of the great aunt and likely greater than that of the great uncle. But, defendant suggests that the differences are vitiated by the planning apparent in Brown's crime and Brown's lack of psychiatric history, lack of suggestion of drug influence, and maturity, as evidenced by his successful military service. Defendant also points out that, although originally sentenced to death, Brown ultimately received a life sentence. The State suggests that Brown and defendant are equally blameworthy, insofar as both selected elderly defendants whom they knew to be vulnerable. The State stresses that the jury in defendant's case rejected any psychological mitigating factors. Also, the State sees Brown's military service as evidence of his rehabilitative potential. The State also points to the increased victimization in defendant's case. Although defendant's case in mitigation may have been slightly more compelling than Brown's, the difference is not meaningful enough to suggest that defendant's death sentence is disproportional, particularly in light of the increased victimization in defendant's case. We conclude that defendant's criminal culpability is equal to or greater than Brown's.