Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 25, 2006 0:42:56 GMT -5
Judge to Decide Whether Man with Low IQ Will Face Murder Trial
A judge is expected to decide Monday whether to dismiss charges against a
man originally declared incompetent to stand trial in a 1993 murder in
Anson County, or to try the case.
Staff at Dorothea Dix, the state mental hospital where defendant Floyd
Brown has spent the past 13 years, say Brown, whose IQ is in the 50s, now
understands the charges and can be tried.
Prosecutors have a confession from Brown, 42, even though experts have
said he was incapable of the detailed statement investigators said he
gave.
Brown's competence is just one of many issues in the case of the murder of
80-year-old Katherine Lynch, whose neighbors found her beaten body June 9,
1993, in her bedroom. Detectives believed the motive was robbery, court
records say.
All the physical evidence, including fingerprints, blood samples and the
suspected murder weapon is missing from the Anson County Sheriff's Office,
according to court records.
And the detectives who investigated Lynch's murder later pleaded guilty to
unrelated federal charges of soliciting thousands of dollars in bribes
from suspects in other cases.
Court records say sheriff's detectives Roland Hutchinson and Robert Poplin
Jr. had no eyewitnesses. Records say they heard a description of someone
rumored to have been telling people he killed Lynch. That description in
the record isn't clear.
The detectives decided Brown fit the description. Hutchinson and Poplin,
along with at least one State Bureau of Investigation agent, visited Brown
at a vocational center where he made plastic gardening containers.
Court documents say Brown willingly went with the investigators and waived
his rights. He signed his last name on the waiver "OBWN."
Brown confessed to SBI agent Mark Isley, but it's not clear who else, if
anyone, was there, records say. Isley could not be reached for comment.
Brown, then 29, confessed in detail during questioning and was charged
with capital murder, court documents show.
Another man was considered a suspect before Brown was charged, though the
court records don't say why.
Hutchinson took palm prints from that man and asked the state lab to
compare his prints to those on the suspected murder weapon, a walking
stick. The state lab said that man's prints weren't readable and ordered
them redone. Court records say that didn't happen.
Test results of the evidence still exist and show that none of the hairs
or prints at the scene match Brown, according to court records filed by
Mike Klinkosum, Brown's attorney.
One report done at the state crime laboratory said hairs at the scene
belong to a Caucasian. Brown and Lynch are black.
It's unclear why another version of the report on the hairs removed the
word "Caucasian" and replaced it with "Negroid."
Tim Rogers, the prosecutor assigned to the case, declined to comment.
Klinkosum has asked the judge to drop the charges because of the missing
evidence.
Prosecutors can no longer pursue the death penalty if Brown is convicted
because a 2001 North Carolina law banned executions of the mentally
retarded.
Superior Court Judge Susan Taylor is scheduled to hear the motion to
dismiss and other motions Monday. If she denies them, the murder trial
will proceed.
(source: Associated Press)
A judge is expected to decide Monday whether to dismiss charges against a
man originally declared incompetent to stand trial in a 1993 murder in
Anson County, or to try the case.
Staff at Dorothea Dix, the state mental hospital where defendant Floyd
Brown has spent the past 13 years, say Brown, whose IQ is in the 50s, now
understands the charges and can be tried.
Prosecutors have a confession from Brown, 42, even though experts have
said he was incapable of the detailed statement investigators said he
gave.
Brown's competence is just one of many issues in the case of the murder of
80-year-old Katherine Lynch, whose neighbors found her beaten body June 9,
1993, in her bedroom. Detectives believed the motive was robbery, court
records say.
All the physical evidence, including fingerprints, blood samples and the
suspected murder weapon is missing from the Anson County Sheriff's Office,
according to court records.
And the detectives who investigated Lynch's murder later pleaded guilty to
unrelated federal charges of soliciting thousands of dollars in bribes
from suspects in other cases.
Court records say sheriff's detectives Roland Hutchinson and Robert Poplin
Jr. had no eyewitnesses. Records say they heard a description of someone
rumored to have been telling people he killed Lynch. That description in
the record isn't clear.
The detectives decided Brown fit the description. Hutchinson and Poplin,
along with at least one State Bureau of Investigation agent, visited Brown
at a vocational center where he made plastic gardening containers.
Court documents say Brown willingly went with the investigators and waived
his rights. He signed his last name on the waiver "OBWN."
Brown confessed to SBI agent Mark Isley, but it's not clear who else, if
anyone, was there, records say. Isley could not be reached for comment.
Brown, then 29, confessed in detail during questioning and was charged
with capital murder, court documents show.
Another man was considered a suspect before Brown was charged, though the
court records don't say why.
Hutchinson took palm prints from that man and asked the state lab to
compare his prints to those on the suspected murder weapon, a walking
stick. The state lab said that man's prints weren't readable and ordered
them redone. Court records say that didn't happen.
Test results of the evidence still exist and show that none of the hairs
or prints at the scene match Brown, according to court records filed by
Mike Klinkosum, Brown's attorney.
One report done at the state crime laboratory said hairs at the scene
belong to a Caucasian. Brown and Lynch are black.
It's unclear why another version of the report on the hairs removed the
word "Caucasian" and replaced it with "Negroid."
Tim Rogers, the prosecutor assigned to the case, declined to comment.
Klinkosum has asked the judge to drop the charges because of the missing
evidence.
Prosecutors can no longer pursue the death penalty if Brown is convicted
because a 2001 North Carolina law banned executions of the mentally
retarded.
Superior Court Judge Susan Taylor is scheduled to hear the motion to
dismiss and other motions Monday. If she denies them, the murder trial
will proceed.
(source: Associated Press)