PRINCE JAVEION BROWN - 2 Months/ Accused: Mother-Sabrina Maiden - Zachary/ Baton Rouge LA

ZACHARY — Authorities arrested a
22-year-old Zachary woman Tuesday in the death of her 2-month-old son,
whose body was found near her residence, and also arrested the child’s
father on unrelated drug and weapons counts.
Sabrina Maiden, 1250
E. Mount Pleasant Road, was booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison
on a first-degree murder count, Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Casey
Rayborn Hicks said.
Authorities found Maiden’s son, Prince Javeion
Deshaun Brown, in an area of shallow water in a field across La. 64 on
Tuesday, a day after she argued with the infant’s father, Willie Brown
Jr., and left home with the infant, whom she later abandoned, Hicks
said.
An autopsy for the infant is scheduled for Wednesday, Hicks said.
Relatives
of the missing infant called the Sheriff’s Office at 1:50 a.m. Tuesday,
Hicks said. Searchers combed an area between La. 61 and La. 964 with
police dogs for about eight hours before finding the infant.
“Evidence indicates that the child was alive at the time he was abandoned,” Hicks said.
Detectives
detained Maiden and Brown for questioning during the search, Hicks
said. Detectives also searched the couple’s home before the discovery of
the infant, Hicks said, and found two handguns and 9.1 ounces of
marijuana.
Brown was booked on one count each of possession with
intent to distribute Schedule I narcotics and possession of a firearm
with controlled dangerous substance, Hicks said.
At 9:30 a.m. Monday, Maiden and Brown had a dispute, and Maiden left her home unclothed and walking with the child, Hicks said.
Maiden
was found without the infant two hours later about a fourth of a mile
from her home, in the 21500 block of Barsket Road, Hicks said.
Maiden
was naked and had multiple scratches, Hicks said. Maiden was combative
toward a nearby resident and was taken to a hospital, Hicks said.
Trey
Williams, a spokesman for the Louisiana Department of Child and Family
Services, said Tuesday that state law concerning confidentiality
prohibits him from commenting on or verifying whether his office has had
any involvement with the family.
Neighbors said Tuesday that Maiden and Brown were rarely seen outside their home.
““I
didn’t know there was a baby in there,””said Cynthia Snowden, who lives
two houses down. ““I was shocked, stunned for it to hit so close to
home.”
Jovan Anthony, who lives nearby in the High Plains Crossing
neighborhood, said she often passed Brown’s house and thought it was
abandoned.
“I said, ‘Somebody abandoned a nice house.’ It always
looked like it was boarded up,” Anthony said, adding that in recent
months she saw a white Dodge Charger parked behind the house but did not
see anyone outside.
“I noticed it had a church sign next to the house, but I never saw anyone around it,” Anthony said.
Snowden’s
son Ryan, 24, said authorities searched a swamp in the family’s
backyard and that he was washing his car when they found the baby.
“I heard them holler,” he said, adding that shortly afterward he saw a deputy carrying the baby wrapped in a sheet.
Hicks
said when word that the infant had been found reached the command
center, everyone got quiet. “There a moment of hope before it was
announced that the baby was dead,” she said.
At that point, Hicks said, “there were a lot of downturned heads.”
Anyone
with additional information about this incident is asked to contact the
Sheriff’s Office at (225) 389-5000 or call Crime Stoppers anonymously
at (225) 344-7867.
http://theadvocate.com/home/2534195-81/mother-booked-in-death

Attorney argues woman not sane at infant’s slaying

BY JOE GYAN JR.
Advocate staff writer
Jan. 23, 2013

A Zachary woman accused in the April killing of her 2-month-old son was insane at the time, her attorney said Tuesday.

Sabrina Maiden, 22, was arrested April 10 and booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on a first-degree murder count in the death of Prince Javeion Deshaun Brown, but she has not been formally charged by prosecutors or indicted by a grand jury. She remains jailed.

“We’re probably going to change our plea at some point,” said Margaret Lagattuta, who represents Maiden, to state District Judge Chip Moore during a brief hearing Tuesday in the case. Maiden was dressed in dark green East Baton Rouge Parish Prison clothes.

Asked afterward what she meant by a change of plea, Lagattuta said she expects Maiden at some point to enter a dual plea of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.

“Clearly from the facts we know, she was not sane at the time,” Lagattuta said outside the courtroom.

Maiden has been on medication for schizophrenia, she said.

District Attorney Hillar Moore III said his office is awaiting a determination on whether Maiden is competent to assist her attorneys before a grand jury date is scheduled.

“This is a difficult case which involves mental health,” he said.

Judge Moore on April 16 appointed a sanity commission to evaluate Maiden, and on May 10, she was found incompetent to stand trial.

At an Oct. 17 sanity hearing, it was determined Maiden still lacked the mental capacity to understand the proceedings against her or to assist in her defense.

Late last year, a doctor at the state hospital in Jackson reported Maiden is now competent to proceed.

On Tuesday, Lagattuta requested that Judge Moore order the sanity commission to examine Maiden again. The judge did so and said he wants their reports by March 13. He scheduled a sanity hearing for April 3.


Sheriff’s deputies found Javeion — the son of Maiden and Willie Brown Jr., 32 — about 10 a.m. April 10 in an area of shallow water in a field near their East Mount Pleasant Road home in Zachary after searching an area between U.S. 61 and La. 964 for about eight hours, Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Casey Rayborn Hicks has said.

The search began after relatives of the missing infant called the Sheriff’s Office, Hicks said.

The call followed a fight between Maiden and Brown at the couple’s home in the 1200 block of East Mount Pleasant Road.

During the fight, Hicks said, Maiden left the home unclothed, walking away with the child. Maiden was found without the infant two hours later about a quarter-mile from her home in the 21500 block of Barsket Road.

The mother had multiple scratches and had been combative with a nearby resident, Hicks said.

Final autopsy results show Javeion died from blunt force trauma to the head, parish Coroner Dr. Beau Clark said in May.

The child suffered a traumatic brain injury and also injuries to his limbs, Clark said. The infant’s death is considered a homicide, he said.

Brown was arrested and booked into Parish Prison on various weapon and drug charges after deputies found guns and drugs inside the couple’s home while the search for their child was ongoing. Brown is free on bond, the district attorney said.


http://theadvocate.com/home/4951349-125/attorney-argues-woman-not-sane

Woman found not guilty in son’s death by reason of insanity

Maiden committed to state hospital
Joe gyan jr

Jan. 25, 2014


A Zachary woman who considered the deceased pop artist Aaliyah a goddess and set up an altar to her in her home was committed Thursday to the state hospital in Jackson after a judge found her not guilty by reason of insanity in the 2012 killing of her 2-month-old son.

The infant, Prince Javeion Deshaun Brown, was found in an area of shallow water in a field near Sabrina Maiden’s home. In addition to the altar to Aaliyah, several dozen upside down crosses were set up in Maiden’s home.

A psychologist and two psychiatrists testified at a sanity hearing in November that Maiden, now 23, was not sane at the time of the April 2012 incident.

Maiden’s court-appointed attorney, Margaret Lagattuta, said Thursday outside the 19th Judicial District Courthouse that Maiden is delusional and a paranoid schizophrenic.

Lagattuta was asked by reporters if Maiden is remorseful for what happened to her son.

“I don’t think I can answer that. I’ve never asked her,” Lagattuta said. “She knows the baby’s dead.”

“It has never been a whodunit in my estimation. It was her,” she acknowledged.

Inside the courthouse, East Baton Rouge Parish Assistant District Attorney Steve Danielson told state District Judge Chip Moore that prosecutors had no objection to the judge declaring Maiden not guilty by reason of insanity.

Moore’s ruling means Maiden can never be prosecuted in the death of her infant son.

“It is over for this defendant,” District Attorney Hillar Moore III said outside the downtown Baton Rouge courthouse.

“She’s done. She goes to the hospital,” Lagattuta added. “She has her issues. It’s the best outcome for her. It’s better than jail.”

The judge will review Maiden’s status every six months to determine whether she poses a danger to herself or others. The first review is set for June 25.

“She’s on some really expensive medication,” Moore said. “I expect she’ll be on that for some time.”

Maiden was arrested April 10, 2012, and booked on a first-degree murder count. Moore’s office charged her with manslaughter in May, at which time she pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.

Dr. John Thompson, a psychiatrist, testified at a Nov. 13 sanity hearing that Maiden — who had a strong family history of schizophrenia — described to him a feeling that she was being influenced by a goddess named Aaliyah and by a religious belief system that was separate and apart from normal religious belief systems.

“The photographs of the house were compelling. All the windows had plastic bags on them. There were upside down crosses, Blackbird black was printed all over the walls,” according to a transcript of his testimony. “When I asked her about that, she said because the blackbird delivered a message from Aaliyah.”

The pop star Aaliyah died in 2001 in a plane crash in the Bahamas.

Thompson also testified there were times when Maiden believed the baby was still in her belly and that God was going to restore the baby to life.

Dr. Jose Artecona, another psychiatrist, testified in November that Maiden believed her boyfriend was Emmanuel or God and that the goddess was Aaliyah. The altar to Aaliyah in her home included a picture of the singer, he noted.

“She felt that she was being punished at the time because she wasn’t breast-feeding,” Artecona testified. “So, she had this psychotic belief that because of her lack of breast-feeding, the baby was somehow damaged, and she thought she was being punished because of that as well. She experienced hallucinations telling her to kill the baby.”

Artecona also said Maiden told him she had a long history of marijuana use.

East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff’s deputies found Javeion — the son of Maiden and Willie Brown Jr. — about 10 a.m. on April 10, 2012, in an area of shallow water in a field near their East Mount Pleasant Road home in Zachary after searching an area between U.S. 61 and La. 964 for about eight hours.

The search began after relatives of the missing infant called the Sheriff’s Office.

The call followed a fight between Maiden and Brown at the couple’s home in the 1200 block of East Mount Pleasant Road, sheriff’s officials have said. During the fight, Maiden left the home unclothed, walking away with the child. Maiden was found without the infant two hours later about a quarter-mile from her home in the 21500 block of Barsket Road.

The mother had multiple scratches and had been combative with a nearby resident, sheriff’s officials said.

Final autopsy results showed Javeion died from blunt-force trauma to the head, East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner Dr. Beau Clark has said. The child suffered a traumatic brain injury and also injuries to his limbs.

The infant’s death was classified as a homicide.

Brown was arrested and booked into Parish Prison on various weapon and drug charges after deputies found guns and drugs inside the couple’s home while the search for their child was ongoing.

Hillar Moore said Thursday that no charges are expected against anyone else in the infant’s death.

Judge Chip Moore appointed a sanity commission in April 2012 to evaluate Maiden, and the following month she was found incompetent to stand trial. At an October 2012 sanity hearing, it was determined Maiden still lacked the mental capacity to understand the proceedings against her or to assist in her defense.

A doctor at the state hospital reported in late 2012 that Maiden was competent to proceed. Last January, at Lagattuta’s request, the judge appointed a sanity commission to examine Maiden again.


http://theadvocate.com/home/8169660-125/woman-found-not-guilty-in