A Virginia judge has scheduled a preliminary hearing in 2020 for a Marine charged with desertion and facing a murder charge in the shooting death of his mother’s boyfriend.
Cpl. Michael Alexander Brown, 22, has a hearing scheduled for March 19, 2020, at the Franklin County General District Court on charges of second-degree murder and using a firearm in commission of a felony, according to court documents.
Based in part on a sworn affidavit by Brown’s mother, police allege that Brown shot and killed Rodney Wilfred Brown, 54, on Nov. 9 in the deceased’s Woodthrush Circle, Hardy, Virginia, home.
Police continued to check back at the home as a weeks-long manhunt went on for Brown after the shooting.
On Nov. 27, as officers were about to enter the attic of the home to look for Brown, he emerged and surrendered without incident, according to local media reports.
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While handcuffed and being transported by police, Brown waved at local television cameras.
Brown failed to report for duty on Oct. 24 at 8th Engineer Support Battalion at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, Capt. Robert Vachon, 2nd Marine Logistics Group spokesman, previously told Marine Corps Times.
Within days of failing to report for duty, witnesses later reported that Brown was staying in a recreational vehicle at Elliott’s Landing campground near Lake Marion in Clarendon County, South Carolina, an estimated 250 miles south of Camp Lejeune.
After the Nov. 9 shooting, police believe that Brown returned to South Carolina, where he abandoned a black Lincoln Town Car that his mother said he drove while fleeing the shooting.
Then, on Nov. 13, a witness called police, telling them that a Brown was tapping on the window of his grandmother’s Franklin County, Virginia home, more than 300 miles from the South Carolina campground.
Police put area schools on lockdown and began to search the area for Brown, sparking a manhunt in Franklin and surrounding counties.
U.S. Marshal’s found the RV he had been reportedly using and had used to tow the Town Car with previously. Believing Brown to be inside, police warned him to exit the vehicle. When they got no response, they rammed the RV until it broke open.
As these events unfolded, Brown’s family members and an attorney they hired to represent him went on local media to plead with Brown to turn himself into authorities.
A “We Support Justice for Michael Brown” Facebook group formed during the search, which continues to add member and had reached more than 1,600 as of Thursday.
He also faces charges in Craven County, North Carolina on two felony larceny counts for staling a Master Tow trailer and Bobcat skid steer. Those event predated the shooting.
Todd South has written about crime, courts, government and the military for multiple publications since 2004 and was named a 2014 Pulitzer finalist for a co-written project on witness intimidation. Todd is a Marine veteran of the Iraq War.
