AUTUMN PAGE BROWN - 2 months (2008) - Brattleboro/Newfane VT

Brattleboro VT --- A Newfane man accused of killing his infant daughter appeared
in court Thursday to ask that the Department of Children and Families release
confidential files to be admitted as evidence.
The files would help support the claim that Joseph Brown, 25, suffered abuse
as a child causing psychological damage, said his defense attorney, Mimi Brill.
"There was significant childhood trauma and abuse that has affected Joe in
his mental functioning," Brill said.
A representative from DCF addressed the court and said that the privileged
documents are difficult to sort out because files relating to Brown also include
information about his siblings as well as his biological and foster parents.
"If [Brown’s DCF files] need to be redacted then they need to be redacted,
but they are critical to his defense," Brill said.
Judge Karen Carroll ordered that the Department of Children and Families hand
over the files to be reviewed by the court before she makes her decision on
whether to release some or all of them to the defense.
Brown’s two-month-old daughter Autumn Page Brown died in September 2008, from
blunt impacts to the skull, scalp contusions, skull fractures, subdural
hemorrhaging, torso injuries and fractured ribs, according to an autopsy report
issued by the medical examiner. At least one of the fractured ribs appeared to
be as old as a week, according to the report.
When he was a baby, Brown was placed in Social Rehabilitation Services custody as a result of a
finding of abuse and neglect by his biological parents, wrote Brill in a motion
in opposition to DCF’s motion to quash her request for the documents.
He was placed in foster care at the age of 16 months and was adopted by his
foster family, the Browns, Brill continued.
Brown’s lawyers are also pursuing a motion to suppress Brown’s confession
based on what they say were incorrect practices on the part of the police who
interviewed and arrested him.
In documents filed at Windham District Court, Brown’s lawyers, Brill and
Kevin W. Griffin, contend that during Brown’s initial interrogation, police did
not read him his Miranda rights or his public defender rights.
"While he was led to believe that he was free to come and go, at no point was
he in fact free to leave once the officers arrived on the scene," Griffin and
Brill wrote.
The interview started benignly enough, state Brown’s lawyers in the motion to
suppress, but before it was over the officers’ tone and intensity changed
dramatically.
"The court should find that Brown’s statements were involuntary and his
requests to end the interrogation were ignored," Brill and Griffin wrote. "Only
after he was arrested was he read his Miranda and Public Defender Rights, which
he waived."
The decision on whether his Fifth Amendment rights were infringed upon might
hinge on whether the court rules if Brown was in custody or not during his first
interrogation.
"[Brown] is a quiet, shy individual who is completely unsophisticated when it
comes to the criminal justice system," Brown’s lawyers wrote in the motion to
suppress. "He has struggled with learning and emotional difficulties ... This is
particularly true when he is placed in pressurized situations."
State’s Attorney Tracy Shriver, in her opposition to suppress Brown’s
statements, said that Brown was told at the outset of the conversation that he
could ask to take a break and would be free to do so.
During that conversation, Brown admitted to police that he had knocked his
daughter on the head several times out of frustration that she would not consume
and keep down baby formula, Shriver wrote.
He also allegedly said that he placed his finger over her windpipe at least
10 times to try to stop her from crying.
Based on the information obtained during the conversation, Brown was placed
under arrest and brought to the Brattleboro Police Department where he was read
his Miranda rights. A second interview was then conducted at the Brattleboro
Police barracks.
The judge stated at the conclusion of the hearing that a status conference
would likely be scheduled prior to the motion hearing regarding Brown’s motion
to suppress statements and derivative evidence.

Vt. man competent to stand trial for 2nd degree murder in death of infant

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: April 28, 2011 - 7:56 am
Last Updated: April 28, 2011 - 2:47 pm


BRATTLEBORO, Vt. — A Newfane man has been found competent to go on trial for second degree murder in the death of his infant daughter nearly three years ago.

A judge made the determination Wednesday after hearing from lawyers for Joseph Brown, 26, and prosecutors.

Brown underwent a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation in February. He has pleaded not guilty to a second-degree murder charge in the September 2008 death of Autumn Page Brown.

The medical examiner found that the 2-month-old infant died from blunt impacts to the skull, scalp contusions, skull fractures, subdural hemorrhaging, torso injuries and fractured ribs.

Brown told police he pressed his thumb against her daughter's windpipe to stop her crying and that he dropped her twice, causing her to hit her head against a sink, according to the Brattleboro Reformer.

Defense lawyers claim the police interviews should not be used as evidence against Brown because the police did not use proper procedures regarding the reading of Miranda rights. Brown's lawyers also claim their client has struggled with learning and emotional difficulties which stem from a history of severe childhood abuse.

Another court hearing is set for next month.

http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/view/story/61ab10852d1b47e69c1ee7ece631c368/VT--Child-Death/

Wednesday, Jul. 13 State vs. Brown, Joseph Scott
at 2:30 PM in Room 1 1256-9-08 Wmcr/Criminal
Change of plea
Atty(s): Mimi Brill
Kevin W. Griffin
Jody A. Racht
Tracy K. Shriver
GAL(s): Gary Carrier

http://www.state.vt.us/courts/court_cal/wmd_cal.htm

Brown pleads guilty to lesser charge in daughter's death



Thursday July 14, 2011
BRATTLEBORO -- A Newfane man was sentenced to five to 60 years in prison Wednesday afternoon for causing the death of his infant daughter.
Joseph Brown, 26, pleaded guilty in the Windham Criminal Division of Vermont Superior Court to one count of involuntary manslaughter and three counts of first-degree aggravated domestic assault.
The manslaughter charge was amended down from the original charge of second-degree murder. Windham County State's Attorney Tracy Shriver said the charges in the plea deal accurately reflect the actual circumstances surrounding the baby's death.
Brown's daughter, two-month-old Autumn Brown, was unresponsive when Brown and his girlfriend rushed her to Grace Cottage Hospital in Townshend Sept. 20, 2008.
The state medical examiner found that she died from blunt impacts to the skull, scalp contusions, skull fractures, subdural hemorrhaging, torso injuries and fractured ribs.
During a court hearing last year Shriver played recordings of police interviews, which Brown's lawyers were attempting to suppress from evidence.
During the interviews, which took place at the hospital, Brown admits that he dropped the baby on two separate occasions while giving her a bath in the kitchen sink, causing her to hit her head.
He also said he put his fingers over her wind pipe, cutting off the air flow, to stop her from crying.
After some coaxing from the officers, Brown also described in detail how he put a tube that was originally intended for a breast pump down Autumn's throat in an attempt to feed her baby formula. He was concerned because she wasn't eating properly that day, he said.
Brown said that he became increasingly frustrated, prompting him to hit the infant in the head with a closed fist three to five times.
Though Brown is troubled, his multiple mental illnesses were not severe enough to justify a defense of insanity, his lawyer said.
Shriver said the 55-year span between the minimum and maximum sentence will give the Vermont Department of Corrections the opportunity to do what they feel is appropriate based on Brown's mental health in the future and his ability to be supervised in jail.
Regardless of how much time he spends in prison, Brown will be under the supervision of the Department of Corrections until he is more than 80 years old, said Judge David T. Suntag.
Brown had no criminal record prior to these charges, said his attorney, Kevin Griffin, of White River Junction.
"Quite frankly, law enforcement had no idea who this guy was," he said.
The child's mother, Nicole Eckert, 23, has not been brought up on charges related to her daughter's death and attended the hearing with her family.
Eckert and Brown lived together in Newfane, and she was at work while Autumn sustained the injuries that led to her death.
A victim's advocate read Eckert's statement to the court, which detailed the impact that Brown's actions had on her and her family.
"Not only me, but my family has also been put under a microscope, trying to figure out what kind of people we are and how we could have let this happen," she said.
"The fact is, Joe fooled us all," she said. "No one saw this coming... I told Joe over and over again to ask for help if he needed it. I thought we were together long enough that he would be OK asking me for help. Apparently I was wrong."
Other members of Eckert's family presented statements to the court saying that they too would have been happy to assist Brown in the care of Autumn if he had only reached out for help.
Shriver said she and Brown's lawyers reached the plea agreement together with the understanding that the case is much more complicated than it appears on the surface.
"It's easy to see why there is a strong desire here for strong punishment; that is, of course, the initial reaction to hearing everything that happened," she said. "Obviously there was a death of an infant, but how that came about is a family tragedy of far greater scope."
Shriver said Brown's mental illness should be taken into account, but it's clear he cannot be considered insane, "just as it's clear Joe Brown never meant to kill his child.
"What we have is someone with a mental illness taking actions in an attempt to feed his child, quiet his child and, strangely enough, to bond with his child," she said.
In her statement to the court, Eckert said Brown was a loving father to their older child and spoke of the trauma caused when that child was taken from her custody during the investigation.
"(My child) had to live with strangers for three months, not knowing what was going on... after he was taken, he began to get very distant... he began to bite and scream at his foster parents."
Eckert said it's taken the him years to recover.
"I still can't leave his side when we're around people he doesn't know or people related to this case," she said.
Presiding judge David T. Suntag commended Eckert for displaying "a strength of character that is extraordinary."
He also acknowledged that the case of Autumn Brown is one that can shake the composure of even the most seasoned professionals.
"I think in the motion to suppress hearing we heard that coming out in people otherwise hardened to this kind of thing," Suntag said, referring to the police officers who sounded exasperated and angry at some points during the lengthy interview with Brown, who initially denied harming the baby.
Eckert said she does not think a sentence of five to 60 years is "nearly enough" but that she is willing to accept it in order to avoid putting her family through the stress of a jury trial.
As she exited the courtroom, she said it was a relief to put the court proceedings behind her after three long years.
"I just need closure," she said. "It's been dragged out for so long... now the closure is there, so hopefully something good will happen."

http://www.reformer.com/localnews/ci_18473612

i realize that our pasts make us who we are, but thats no excuse to harm, torture and/or kill a child.

If this POS was abused as a child, all the more reason for him to not abuse his own baby. And murder her.