In a small dot of the universe, Bill Perkins sifts through pages and pages of digital paper learning about hovercraft engines, how to grow the perfect tangerine, and the death of a 28-year-old father of three in Dallas, Texas.
It’s sad to report that there’s nothing unusual about a 28-year-old man shot to death in the U.S. Only this one was different. Ten days earlier, the deceased, Joshua Brown, was a crucial witness in the Amber Guyger case.
If like me, you don’t read the news, unless a high stakes poker player posts about it on his Twitter feed, then let me fill you in.
A jury found Amber Guyger, guilty of murdering Botham Jean, a 26-year-old, accountant from St Lucia. The former Dallas police officer walked into his apartment and put two bullets into him. Guyger claimed she had entered Jean’s apartment by mistake. The blame went to tiredness after a long shift. Thinking the apartment was hers, and seeing a man in there spooked her.
She received a ten-year jail sentence.
She killed someone and received a ten-year jail sentence.
Let me say that again.
She killed someone and received a ten-year jail sentence!
Joshua Brown shared the apartment block with both Guyger and Jean. He became implicated in the case after returning home from football and hearing the shooting. The jury heard from Brown that he did not hear Guyger say “Put Your Hands Up” before shooting Jean. Guyger claimed that she did.
After Brown was found dead in a car park, Perkins offered a $100,000 reward for any information that would lead to a conviction. Well, the police got more than a tip, although I’m not sure the money will end up in the pocket of the deliverer.
The Brown Case
Police want to interview Thaddeus Charles Green (22) and Michael Diaz Mitchell (32), after testimony from Jacqerious Mitchell implicated the pair in Brown’s death.
Mitchell told police that the three of them had driven to Dallas to buy drugs from Brown when a physical altercation between Brown and Green resulted in Brown shooting Green, and then Green returning the favour.
The police claimed a search of Brown’s home unearthed 12 lbs of marijuana, 149 grams of THC cartridges and $4,157 in cash.
Was it a drug deal gone wrong, or a ‘Making a Murderer’ police conspiracy?
S. Lee. Merritt is the lawyer representing Brown’s family. He told a reporter from the Black American Web that Brown believed he was Guyger’s target, not Jean, and had concerns someone would come and finish the job. It’s for this reason that Merritt wants an outside party to investigate the case.
“Whether they like it or not, the Dallas Police Department is implicated in this.”
It’s not the first time that Brown had been involved in a shooting. Last year, he received a gunshot wound to the foot, after a birthday party went wrong.