LUMBERTON — The North Carolina Court of Appeals on Tuesday denied an appeal filed on behalf of a man convicted in the 2012 shooting death of a Lumberton police officer.

The three-judge panel in Raleigh ruled unanimously it could find no error in the judgments of the trial court that issued the guilty verdict against Marques Brown.

Brown was convicted on March 5, 2018, of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Officer Jeremiah Goodson Jr. Brown also was convicted of possession of a firearm by a felon and possession with intent to sell or deliver marijuana. He was sentenced to up to 26.8 years in jail for second-degree murder and 21 to 35 months in prison, to be served concurrently, on the other charges.

Then-District Attorney Johnson Britt had argued for first-degree murder and that Brown be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. But, defense attorneys argued that Brown did not know Goodson was an officer and that Brown feared his life was in danger.

In January 2018, Superior Court Judge Frank Floyd declared during a pre-trial hearing that Brown, 33 years old at the time, was intellectually deficient for a capital case, which removed the possibility of a death sentence.

Brown’s attorneys, Rudolf Widenhouse and M. Gordon Widenhouse Jr., argued before the Appeals Court that the trial court erred by denying Brown’s request for a jury instruction on self-defense and that the trial court also erred by denying his request for an instruction on the lesser-included offense of voluntary manslaughter based on imperfect self-defense.

“We reject these arguments,” Appeals Court Judge Richard Dietz wrote in the ruling.

Because the ruling was unanimous Brown’s only avenue for a future appeal is to ask the state Supreme Court for a discretionary review. Had Tuesday’s ruling be a split vote Brown would have had the right to appeal to the state’s highest court.

“I have no further comment, other than I disagreed with the verdict,” Britt said Tuesday.

Police Chief Michael McNeill declined to comment Tuesday because he had not seen the ruling.

“The trial court properly concluded that this evidence was insufficient to create a reasonable belief that it was necessary for Brown to use deadly force to protect himself from death or great bodily harm. Specifically, whatever Brown may have believed — because he was on edge from an earlier attempt on his life, or because he was suffering from some form of post-traumatic stress, or for any other idiosyncratic reason — the evidence demonstrated that ‘in the mind of a person of ordinary firmness’ there was no basis to use deadly force,” Dietz wrote.

On the defense argument that the court erred in denying Brown’s request for an instruction on the offense of voluntary manslaughter, Dietz wrote in part “the trial court properly concluded that there was insufficient evidence to support either perfect or imperfect self-defense as a matter of law, the trial court properly declined this request for an instruction as well.”

Goodson was shot to death on the morning of July 17, 2012. On that morning Goodson was off duty and running errands with his wife when he stopped at a gas station.

Goodson told his wife that he saw someone inside the store who had active warrants and that he needed to drop her off somewhere safe. Goodson took his wife to a nearby strip mall, according to trial testimony and the Facts and Procedural History section of the Appeals Court ruling document.

Goodson then contacted his supervisor to report that he had located a person with active warrants against him. That person was Brown. Goodson described Brown’s clothing and vehicle, and reported that Brown was with a woman and a small child. An on-duty officer was told to go to the gas station to assist in serving the warrants and making the arrest. Goodson was told to remain on the line and to keep sight of Brown in case he changed locations.

Goodson reported that Brown’s car moved to a nearby gas station parking lot.

During the trial, the on-duty officer testified that when he arrived at the parking lot, he blocked Brown’s car with his patrol vehicle, while Goodson pulled his personal vehicle beside Brown’s car. The officer testified that he saw Goodson step out of his car and take a single step toward the store before being struck by multiple gunshots.

The officer testified that he drew his weapon and approached Brown’s vehicle, where Brown was sitting in the passenger seat. The officer opened the door of Brown’s vehicle and ordered Brown to get out. The officer saw a gun lying in the front passenger seat. The gun had a 10-round capacity with six bullets remaining.

Police Capt. Johnny Coleman arrived on the scene after learning that an officer was down and saw Goodson lying face down between his vehicle and Brown’s vehicle. When Goodson was rolled over, there was a gun lying underneath him.

Brown told officers he was not aware the man he shot was a police officer. He said Goodson “had a gun in his hand,” although he also asserted that he “didn’t see the gun.” When asked about the gun, Brown also told officers that Goodson didn’t “raise it and point it at me or nothing.”

Brown was indicted on Aug. 3, 2012, for first-degree murder, possession of a firearm by a felon, and possession with intent to sell or deliver marijuana. The case went to trial Feb. 19, 2018.

Brown
https://www.robesonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/web1_Marques-Brown_1-3.jpgBrown
Brown found guilty in 2018 of shooting Goodson to death

T.C. Hunter

Managing editor

Reach T.C. Hunter via email at [email protected] or by calling 910-816-1974.