.jpg)
Melvin Brown Jr., no stranger to prison, faces life behind bars when a judge sentences him to life in prison in the wake of Tuesday's guilty verdict in the shooting death of Jeremy Markley (shown here in the inset photo) whose body was found slumped in an SUV behind an Edgewater bar following a high speed chase through the streets of New Smyrna Beach.
NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- In just two hours of deliberations today, a jury found Melvin Brown Jr. guilty of first-degree murder in the shotgun slaying of fellow New Smyrna Beach resident Jeremy Markley on July 19, 2009, following a high speed chase with gunfire spraying the lead vehicle.
The jury's swift action paves the way at a later dat for the presiding judge to sentence Brown to life behind bars. Markley's life was cut shot by Brown's gunfire on of all nights, his 25th birthday.
Brown, having already been in prison for drug trafficking and now 34, is still a young man.
But State Attorney R.J. Larizza didn't mince words for him after the primary charge of first-degree murder resulted in "guilty" when read aloud in Circuit Judge Rabdall Rowe's courtroom at the Volusia County Courthouse in DeLand.
"Melvin Brown Jr. will never walk the streets again," LaRizza said.
But State Attorney R.J. Larizza didn't mince words for him after the primary charge of first-degree murder resulted in "guilty" when read aloud in Circuit Judge Randall Rowe's courtroom at the Volusia County Courthouse in DeLand. "Melvin Brown Jr. will never walk the streets again," LaRizza said.
Markley was an unwitting victim of a drug ripoff perpetrated by Henry Wheeler, a career criminal with more than 60 arrests. But he was the key witness for the state, who held up to tough impeachment on the stand by Brown's attorney, Brad Sherman, himself a former prosecutor.
LaRizza said the state was fully cognizant Wheeler was no choir boy, and his history of deceit and petty crimes made him a risky witness. "But he told the truth on the stand and that is what matters in this case," insisted LaRizza, who is facing a re-election challenge from former Volusia County Judge Stasia Warren.
Markley was unaware that a drug deal had gone down in a New Smyrna Beach bar between Wheeler, whom he had just met and Brown.
Wheeler slipped Brown a $5 bill instead of the agreed upon $50, and in no time, Brown was chasing Markley's SUV with another of Wheeler's friends behind the wheel as the drug dealer fired repeatedly at the lead vehicle. The high speed chase wound through New Smyrna Beach before Markley's SUV pulled into the rear of the HiTops Bar in Edgewater.
State Attorney spokeswoman Klare Ly said the jury's verdict just before 5 p.m. paves the way for Brown's sentencing one a sentencing report with a score sheet is prepared for the court, including Brown's prior criminal history.
Besides the first-degree murder guilty verdict, the jury found Brown guilty of three counts of attempted murder and shooting into an occupied vehicle.