Richard Nelson Brown was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for the Sept. 30, 2005 murder of Senoia business owner Ken Crook. Convicted on all five counts, Superior Court Judge Marion Cummings called the murder a brutal and heinous crime.

The jury deliberated for two and one-half hours before returning a guilty verdict for malice murder, aggravated assault, two counts of burglary and possession of a weapon during the commission of a crime.

Prior to sentencing, Crook’s sister Cheryl Thompson choked back tears as she addressed the court.

“This has been a hard year for us,” Thompson said. “There was a lot that was not good that was said about Ken during this trial. But he was a good person with a truly good heart. He had no defenses when he was around people that might be dangerous to him. We didn’t realize how much he suffered. We always thought when he died it was over in an instant, but it wasn’t.”

After the verdict was read defense attorney Jerry Word advocated for the 51 year-old Spalding County man by asking Judge Cummings for his consideration of the minimum life sentence due to his age and since Brown had no history of violence.

Judge Cummings imposed a life sentence for malice murder, 20 years for aggravated assault to run consecutively, 20 years each for both counts of burglary to run concurrently and five years for possession of a weapon during the commission of a crime.

"This was a brutal and heinous crime,” Judge Cummings said after the sentencing. “I hope and feel the sentence imposed will fit the act.”

Brown was a former employee at Crook’s Tire Center. Brown had owned an unusually configured van that was identified by witnesses near the September 2005 crime scene. He was arrested March 30 in Spalding County after the van was located in Gwinnett County and the ownership at the time of the slaying was traced back to Brown.

Though Brown did not testify and no defense witnesses were called, lead defense attorney Jerry Word left no doubt of Brown’s claim that he acted in self-defense, the subject of Crook’s sexual advances. Word paired that claim with the presence of pornographic material found in Crook’s residence.

“Mr. Brown’s assertion was that he was being sexually assaulted and he defended himself,” Word said. “I think there was a good amount of evidence to the jury that there was a wide variety of pornography in the house and scattered around the body of the deceased. It was questionable as to whether there was homosexual pornography but there was transvestite pornography. It’s hard to say to what extent (child pornography) was present. It was limited to what we presented to the jury and there were literally thousands of images. It’s hard to sort out which ones were children. Some of them looked like they might be children but you couldn’t prove it. GBI found magazines with child pornography, nudist camp magazines with families and children included.”

Assistant District Attorney Ray Mayer disagreed with the notion that Brown acted in a defensive manner, noting that Crook suffered multiple forms of assault, including strangulation, blows to the head and two gunshots to the head. Mayer said the condition of Crook’s body was not consistent with Brown’s claim that he shot and killed Crook as a matter of self-defense.

“There were two lacerations behind the left ear that resulted from blunt force trauma. The upper arms and wrists had been tied with ligatures. He had been strangled with a ligature. He had been shot between the eyes and the bullet went below the brain. And he was shot in the side of the head. That’s what killed him,” Mayer said.“(Self-defense) is their contention but it just doesn’t fit. It doesn’t fit at all. For one thing, Ken was not shot at close range. The medical examiner established that it did not happen where they were in close contact, so he shot him from across the room. How much in fear for yourself can you be from across the room when you’ve got a gun in your hand? And if it’s self-defense why is he stealing (from Crook’s home and business) afterwards? It makes no sense.”

Mayer also maintained that the defense claim’s that the significance of pornography at the residence, including the mention of child pornography, did not contribute to Brown’s claim that he was the victim of Crook’s advances and Brown’s need for self-defense.

“Of a thousand images on his computer they came up with about 10 that are arguably below age. I looked at them. It’s not like they were eight years old. They might be 12 or 14 as opposed to 16 or 18. They were young but I couldn’t tell by looking at them,” Mayer said, making the point that the presence of sexual imagery at the residence did not equate with the claims that Crook was the aggressor on the night he was murdered.

“Ken was not a violent person. He may have been a little obsessive when it came to sex, but he was not a violent person,” Mayer said, reflecting on Brown’s March 29 videotaped confession. It was during that confession that Brown admitted to killing, but not murdering, Crook. “It was the whole idea that he did it because Ken made a pass at him and then it led to a struggle and led to the shooting. That’s all (the defense) had. He didn’t testify so they are at the trial with the statement that he made in March.”

The assertion that Brown was the victim and that the facts of that victimization were being put on trial was a standard defense maneuver, Mayer said, whether in a case of murder, rape or even in child molestation cases.

Witness after witness, including Crook’s brother, Greg, dismissed the “gay panic defense’ as preposterous and said that Ken was clearly heterosexual. Despite Word’s efforts to tie the pornography to the crime, the jury rebutted his version of the events.

The silent courtroom gave way to muffled sounds of relief mixed with grief as the jury’s verdict was read shortly after 4 p.m. Huddled together on one side of the room, Crook’s family heard the report that Brown had been found guilty of all counts. There were no shouts of joy and no celebration, only little sobs and reddened eyes swollen with tears.

Speaking the day after the trial, Crook’s brother Greg acknowledged the approach used by the defense.

“We are grateful of the decision of the jury. Their decision was based on the overwhelming evidence that led to the conviction of Richard Nelson Brown,” Crook said. “It was very difficult for the family to witness the character assassination of my brother. We knew going into this trial that my brother, not the confessed murderer, was on trial. The unfortunate part is the District Attorney was representing the State of Georgia in attempting to obtain a conviction of a confessed killer, not to clear my brother’s name. Most of the wild allegations were either totally false, exaggerated or taken out of context. We understood that Mr. Word, the defendant’s attorney, would go to great lengths. He would largely go unchallenged on the smearing of my deceased brother’s reputation. Mr. Word’s admission to the court that his own wife of several years left him for a woman demonstrated there were no bounds.”

“Those of you need to be aware that the casual events of your day could be held against you even if you are the victim of a malice murder. The next time someone sends you an e-mail with what could be offensive material, be aware it could be used against you. You may have deleted it, but it is still on your hard drive. The next time you watch “Sex and The City” or ”Desperate Housewives”, realize that some people could find that offensive.”

Greg Crook also reflected on the outcome of the trial and the manner in which justice was served.

“The good news is that the American judicial system works,” he said. The facts overcome the hearsay. My family is deeply appreciative to all those that brought Richard Brown’s conviction. The citizens of Coweta County and the State of Georgia should be proud that we have the finest people protecting them and enforcing the laws of this state.”

-Coweta Editor John Thompson, who is the victim’s brother-in-law, also contributed to the article.

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