Judge Robert Morin found probable cause Friday that James Brown was involved in the Dec. 2012 slaying of 22-year-old Darnell Rivers.
Morin also found probable cause that co-defendant Javon Hale kidnapped Brown’s brother, Tony. And Morin found probable cause that Tony Brown was carrying a pistol outside his home without a license. All three men remain held.
Defense attorneys initially requested that the men’s cases be separated, but prosecutors argued that the cases were so intertwined that they needed to be tried as a group.
According to charging documents in the case, on the evening of Dec. 29, 2012, Hale and Rivers kidnapped Tony Brown at gunpoint and had planned to take him back to his apartment and rob him of his belongings. The suspects, however, did not search Brown before forcing him into the backseat of a vehicle.
As the vehicle sped off, Tony Brown pulled out a gun and shot Rivers. Hale shot back, striking Brown in the face. Brown returned fire, striking Hale in the wrist, the documents say.
Rivers crashed the vehicle into a tree in the 5000 block of Ayers Place Southeast; Hale and Tony Brown both fled the scene.
Arrest documents say that a few minutes later, a witness saw James Brown approach the crashed vehicle on foot and fire several shots into the driver’s side of the car.
Rivers died on the scene from multiple gunshot wounds.
Detective Thomas Smith testified Friday that a deputy medical examiner determined that Rivers was alive when each bullet entered his body.
“There was hemorrhaging in all of the wounds, indicating that his heart was still beating,” Smith said.
Smith said the majority of the bullet entry wounds were focused on the left side of Rivers’ body and that only one bullet wound came from behind him. That bullet, Smith said, was found lodged in Rivers’ spinal column.
James Brown’s defense attorney, David Maxted, argued that the bullet found in Rivers’ spine was a fatal shot and that Brown’s alleged actions happened when he was already dead.
Smith testified that the medical examiner determined that the cause of death was multiple gun shot wounds and it wasn’t possible to pinpoint which one caused death.
Several 9-millimeter and .40 caliber shell casings were recovered from the scene of the incident, along with a .45 caliber pistol and a .38 special revolver with five spent cartridges in its cylinder.
A search warrant recovered a Kel-Tec 9-millimeter semi-automatic firearm from Brown’s apartment; technicians concluded that the casings recovered from the scene were fired from that gun.
A felony status conference has been scheduled for April 12.
