From the cutting room floor: Cameron Brown murder retrial closing arguments - Part I
One of the most frustrating things about being a court reporter is that, more often than not, I can't possibly come close to including in my story all the things that are said in court about a case. Space, and readers' attention spans, just don't make it prudent. Thus, it's safe to say that on days like yesterday, where I listened to two attorney speaks for about five hours, there is more that didn't make it into my 25-inch story than did. And that's not even including the hour or so of prosecution rebuttal I missed at the end of the day in order to make my deadline.
This is even more frustrating when we're talking about a mostly circumstantial evidence case, like the one against Cameron Brown. So, here's what I'm gonna do - I'm going to try to dump here tid-bits, comments, slices of evidence and other information that didn't find a home in today's newspaper story. Also, if you have a question about something related to this case - the evidence, why or why not somebody did or didn't do or say something, etc., I will try to answer it. I can't promise I'll know all the answers, but I'll give it a shot.
Just don't ask me what I think about anything. I'm not going to tell you.
From Deputy District Attorney Craig Hum's closing argument:
- The jury has two duties: Decide the facts from the evidence, exhibits and site visit, then apply the facts to the law decide between guilty and not guilty. "You have to decide what happened on Nov. 8, 2000."
- Brown is charged with one count of first-degree murder plus special circumstance allegations of lying in wait and killing for financial gain. For first-degree murder, jury must find that the killing was willful, deliberate and premeditated and done with malice, which can be expressed or implied. Here, there is both. Under express malice, the question is: "Did the defendant intend to kill Lauren when he threw her off a 120-foot cliff into the ocean? Of course he did. There 's not other reasonable explanation." Under implied malice, the jury has to find the defendant knew throwing Lauren off a cliff would be dangerous, but did it anyway. "It really is that simple and straightforward."
- The defense tried to say she was just a casual date, one of many women he dated, but that's not true. Besides dates, Key-Marer met Brown's family and friends and they traveled together. The defense tried to make her look like "another fling" because they are trying to explain the way Brown treated her.
- He tried to coerce her into an abortion, but she refused (it is undisputed she got pregnant a few weeks after they began dating during their first time having sex when the condom broke). When she refused, he dumped her, "pregnant and alone, scared and then he tried to get her deported."
-"From the very start, the defendant did not want Lauren in his life. He was doing what he could to get rid of her before she was even born."
-Brown knew for certain Key-Marer was pregnant, as evidence by his taking her to a counselor in early 1996. Key-Marer said the counselor tried to convince her to have an abortion.
-At least five of Brown's friends testified he told them he was going to have his pregnant former girlfriend deported (Key-Marer was from England and had over-stayed her visa). "These people have no reason to lie about it."
-Brown wanted nothing to do with being a father - as he told Key-Marer, the counselor (who testified) and a former girlfriend (who testified she had had an abortion after she became pregnant with Brown's child). He cried to the former girlfriend about not being ready to be a father.
-Brown thought a child would be a "burden" and he was angry. This also shows "the level of anger, the level of hatred teh defendant had for Sarah because it helps us understand the lengths the defendant was willing to go to avoid being a father and to punish Sarah." He was "vindictive" and awanted to "make her life terrible."
-Key-Marer didn't call Brown, knowing he was not interested in being a father, after they broke up - except a couple times (this wasn't mentioned in closings, but she testified she had called to tell him she was having a girl and once had invited him to a party to see if they could give things another go). After he threatened to have her deported and fired (so she wouldn't have insurance) and left messages on her work voicemail ("you're still there?" then hanging up), she was afraid of what he was capable of.
-Two of Brown's friends said he was trying to "hide out" to avoid Key-Marer. He lived on his boat in Redondo Beach, then switched to Marina del Rey, then came back to Redondo, but at a different dock. He also changed his phone number several times. He told people at his work not to accept calls for him. "He is hiding out because he wants nothing to do with being a father."
End Part I. Stay tuned for Part II.
About the Blogger
Larry Altman has covered crime in the South Bay since 1990. He's seen it all - the missing model who turned up dead in the desert, the wives found dead in trunks, the high-school coaches who get a little too close to their players. He drives his young colleagues nuts with his "I remember when" stories. He welcomes your tips and observations about the present, and you can mix in a little Lakers basketball talk if you like.
E-mail Larry at larry.altman@dailybreeze.com.
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