Albert Greenwood Brown Jr. (born August 18, 1954) is an American murderer and rapist who has been convicted of

sexual molestation Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...

with force of a

minor Minor may refer to: * Minor (law), a person under the age of certain legal activities. ** A person who has not reached the age of majority * Academic minor, a secondary field of study in undergraduate education Music theory *Minor chord ** Barb ...

, two counts of first-degree

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...

with force, and the

first degree murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the c ...

of a teen girl in

Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States, in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire an ...

. He was scheduled to die by

lethal injection Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium solution) for the express purpose of causing rapid death. The main application for this procedure is capital puni ...

at 9 p.m. on September 30, 2010, in California's first use of

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

since the lifting of a court-ordered moratorium. The use of lethal injection had been suspended in the state since February 2006 because of objections of

cruel and unusual punishment Cruel and unusual punishment is a phrase in common law describing punishment that is considered unacceptable due to the suffering, pain, or humiliation it inflicts on the person subjected to the sanction. The precise definition varies by jurisd ...

for shortcomings of the facilities and procedures previously in use at

San Quentin State Prison San Quentin State Prison (SQ) is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated place of San Quentin in Marin County. Opened in July 1852, San Quentin is the ...

. Brown's lawyers appealed to block their client's execution, with the execution initially planned to be carried out in a new facility at the prison that is certified to use either a single or three-drug

protocol Protocol may refer to: Sociology and politics * Protocol (politics), a formal agreement between nation states * Protocol (diplomacy), the etiquette of diplomacy and affairs of state * Etiquette, a code of personal behavior Science and technolog ...

. The US Ninth Court of Appeals ordered US District Judge

Jeremy D. Fogel Jeremy Don Fogel (born September 17, 1949)sodium thiopental Sodium thiopental, also known as Sodium Pentothal (a trademark of Abbott Laboratories), thiopental, thiopentone, or Trapanal (also a trademark), is a rapid-onset short-acting barbiturate general anesthetic. It is the thiobarbiturate analog of pe ...

, one of the drugs required for lethal injection, would

expire Expire was an American hardcore punk band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, active from 2009 to 2017. They were signed to Bridge 9 Records. History Expire was formed in 2009. They released three full-length albums, three EPs and one spl ...

on October 1, 2010. Judge Fogel halted the execution to permit time to review whether the new injection procedures addressed previous objections. On September 29, 2010, the

Supreme Court of California The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacra ...

unanimously denied an appeal by the state to proceed by the end of the month. Brown's execution was then delayed because the prison's supply of the lethal injection drug had expired. The manufacturer of sodium thiopental stated that new supplies would not be available until 2011. As of 2019, Brown remains on death row as a result of the continuing state-wide suspension of the death penalty in California.

Early life

Brown grew up in

Tulare, California Tulare ( ) is a city in Tulare County, California. The population was 68,875 at the 2020 census. It is located in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley, eight miles south of Visalia and sixty miles north of Bakersfield. The city is named for th ...

, with his father's family that reportedly saw to it that "every kid went to college."Alt URL
According to a Tulare Western High School yearbook, he was to be part of the class of 1972. However, he was expelled from school after he accidentally fired a gun that he had brought on campus and grazed another student in the head on March 13. He joined the

US Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

, but was brought to

court-martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...

and discharged in 1975 for being

absent without leave Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission (a pass, liberty or leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave (AWOL ), which a ...

Early criminal history

He moved to

to live with his divorced mother and was soon charged with brutally raping and impregnating an 11-year-old girl. She said that Brown told her since he was a black man and she was a black girl; she was "in need of a feeding." She was forced to perform oral sex, and Brown then violently raped and choked her and sodomized her. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years of

probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incarceration), such ...

. On an early morning in 1976, Brown broke into a home in Riverside and hid in a closet until all of the residents had left. When a 14-year-old girl returned from a paper route to go to school, he choked her unconscious and brutally raped her in her mother's room. Brown pleaded guilty to charges of First Degree with Force on May 4, 1978, and was sentenced to state prison. He was

parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

d on June 14, 1980, and found work cleaning and preparing new cars for sale at Rubidoux Motors in

Riverside County Riverside County is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,418,185, making it the fourth-most populous county in California and the 10th-most populous in the Unit ...

Death of Susan Louise Jordan

On the morning of October 28, 1980, Brown abducted 15-year-old Susan Louise Jordan while she was on her way to Arlington High School in Riverside. He had been posing as a jogger on the route. After dragging her to an

orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

grove, Brown brutally raped and sodomized her and strangled her to death with her shoelace; he also took her identification cards and school books. Susan's mother, Angelina Jordan, who had coincidentally left her car to be serviced at Brown's workplace, Rubidoux Motors, went to the school to search for Susan after her younger sister, Karen, and younger brother, James, returned home without her. After finding the family's number in a phone book, Brown called Angelina Jordan from a

payphone A payphone (alternative spelling: pay phone) is typically a coin-operated public telephone, often located in a telephone booth or in high-traffic outdoor areas, with prepayment by inserting money (usually coins) or by billing a credit or debit ...

at around 7:30 p.m. to tell her where he left her daughter's body. According to court documents, he said, "Hello, Mrs. Jordan, Susie isn't home from school yet, is she? You will never see your daughter again. You can find her body on the corner of Victoria and Gibson." Susan's body was found after Brown repeatedly made calls to the

Riverside Police Department The Riverside Police Department is the law enforcement agency responsible for the city of Riverside, California. History The Riverside Police Department was founded in 1896 and has grown from a small frontier town police force to a large metro ...

and the Jordan residence. One of Brown's subsequent calls was recorded by a police officer.

Arrest and investigation

Brown was arrested on November 6, 1980, after three witnesses came forward to identify him and his

Pontiac Trans Am The Pontiac Firebird is an American automobile that was built and produced by Pontiac from the 1967 to 2002 model years. Designed as a pony car to compete with the Ford Mustang, it was introduced on February 23, 1967, five months after GM's Che ...

with a Rubidoux Motors

paper plate Disposable tableware includes all disposable tableware like * disposable cups made of paper, plastic, coated paper, * plates *tablecloths, * placemats *plastic cutlery, *paper napkins, etc. These products are prevalent in fast food restaurant ...

near the site of the murder. Susan's identification cards were found in a phone booth at a nearby

Texaco Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American Petroleum, oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its Gasoline, fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an Indepe ...

service station. During a search of Brown's home on November 7, police found Susan's books, a newspaper article about the case, and a Riverside

telephone directory A telephone directory, commonly called a telephone book, telephone address book, phonebook, or the white and yellow pages, is a listing of telephone subscribers in a geographical area or subscribers to services provided by the organization tha ...

in which the page opposite the listing for the Jordan family was folded. Brown was discovered to have been late to work on the day she disappeared. A jogging suit stained with blood and

sperm Sperm is the male reproductive cell, or gamete, in anisogamous forms of sexual reproduction (forms in which there is a larger, female reproductive cell and a smaller, male one). Animals produce motile sperm with a tail known as a flagellum, whi ...

was found in his locker at the employee coffee shop. Brown's shoes were matched to footprints from the crime scene.

Trial and appeals

On February 4, 1982, a Riverside County jury convicted Brown of first-degree murder with the special circumstances of first-degree kidnapping and first-degree rape, oral copulation, and first-degree sodomy. During sentencing hearings, his defense attorney argued that Brown was remorseful and presented evidence of psychiatric problems, including

sexual dysfunction Sexual dysfunction is difficulty experienced by an individual or partners during any stage of normal sexual activity, including physical pleasure, desire, preference, arousal, or orgasm. The World Health Organization defines sexual dysfunction as ...

. Brown claimed that his aunt had physically abused him as a child and

spanked Spanking is a form of corporal punishment involving the act of striking, with either the palm of the hand or an implement, the buttocks of a person to cause physical pain. The term spanking broadly encompasses the use of either the hand or im ...

by his mother. His mother denied abusing Brown but claimed that her son was out buying milk at the time of the murder. The surviving victim of the 1976 rape case testified against him. The jury deliberated for less than three hours on February 19 and sentenced Brown to death. On March 2, 1982, he was placed on

death row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting Capital punishment, execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of ...

San Quentin, California San Quentin (Spanish: ''San Quintín'', meaning " St. Quentin") is a small unincorporated community in Marin County, California, United States. It is located west of Point San Quentin, at an elevation of . Description San Quentin is adjace ...

. In 1985, Brown's sentence was overturned by the

California Supreme Court The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacra ...

and reinstated by the

US Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of ...

in 1987. Brown's defense filed a motion of

habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...

to the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that he received ineffective counsel at his trial and that his sentence was a

that violated the Eighth Amendment of the US Constitution. On September 19, 2007, Judge

Michael Daly Hawkins Michael Daly Hawkins (born February 12, 1945) is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Early life and education Born in Winslow, Arizona, Hawkins received his Bachelor of Arts degree ...

denied Brown's appeal and upheld lower court rulings.

Execution proceedings

On August 29, 2010, a California court lifted a statewide injunction against capital punishment with the certification of new lethal injection procedures. On the next day, Riverside County District Attorney

Rod Pacheco Rodric Anthony Pacheco (born May 7, 1958), more commonly known as Rod Pacheco, is an American politician. He served in the Riverside County District Attorney's Office as a Deputy District Attorney, Chief Deputy District Attorney, Assistant Dist ...

sought a

death warrant An execution warrant (also called death warrant or black warrant) is a writ that authorizes the execution of a condemned person. An execution warrant is not to be confused with a " license to kill", which operates like an arrest warrant bu ...

for Brown. Riverside County Judge Roger Luebs initially set Brown's execution for 12:01 a.m. on September 29, 2010. On August 31, prison warden Vince Cullen personally walked to Brown's cell to read the

to him. Brown was the first inmate scheduled to be executed in a newly built facility at San Quentin State Prison. It had undergone an $853,000 renovation that quadrupled its size after U.S. District Court Judge

Jeremy D. Fogel Jeremy Don Fogel (born September 17, 1949)Michael Morales because of complaints about lethal injection procedures within the previous chamber. Four different phones were installed with individual red warning lights in the event of a call from the

Governor of California The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constitution of California, the g ...

, the

California Attorney General The attorney general of California is the state attorney general of the Government of California. The officer's duty is to ensure that "the laws of the state are uniformly and adequately enforced" (Constitution of California, Article V, Section ...

, the warden, or the

. The facility has been set up to use a

of a three-drug combination of

sodium thiopental Sodium thiopental, also known as Sodium Pentothal (a trademark of Abbott Laboratories), thiopental, thiopentone, or Trapanal (also a trademark), is a rapid-onset short-acting barbiturate general anesthetic. It is the thiobarbiturate analog of pe ...

pancuronium bromide Pancuronium (trademarked as Pavulon) is an aminosteroid muscle relaxant with various medical uses. It is used in euthanasia and is used in some states as the second of three drugs administered during lethal injections in the United States. Mecha ...

and

potassium chloride Potassium chloride (KCl, or potassium salt) is a metal halide salt composed of potassium and chlorine. It is odorless and has a white or colorless vitreous crystal appearance. The solid dissolves readily in water, and its solutions have a salt ...

or a single injection of sodium thiopental in which the dose is increased from 3 to 5 g to make it lethal by itself. Brown was examined by the prison staff to check that his veins were healthy enough for the injection process. He ordered a

last meal A condemned prisoner's last meal is a customary ritual preceding execution. In many countries, the prisoner may, within reason, select what the last meal will be. Contemporary restrictions in the United States In the United States, most states gi ...

of steak and onion rings. The premises were also wired with speakers so that his last words could be broadcast.

Last-minute appeals

Judge Fogel, whose 2006 ruling had halted executions in California, gave Brown until September 26 to decide on a method of execution, including the new lethal injection protocols. Brown refused to make a selection. Defense attorney John Grele described Brown as "a simple man with obvious neuropsychological deficits" who is unprepared to make such a decision. Arguing that forcing him to decide on the manner of his death is "unconstitutionally medieval," Brown's defense team asked the judge to reconsider allowing the execution to proceed. Fogel declined to issue a

stay of execution A stay of execution is a court order to temporarily suspend the execution of a court judgment or other court order. The word "execution" does not always mean the death penalty. It refers to the imposition of whatever judgment is being stayed and i ...

, which he stated would have been considered if Brown had selected a single injection and the prison had refused to carry it out. In the absence of a decision, the prison defaulted to preparing the three-drug protocol. On September 27,

Marin County Marin County is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is acros ...

Judge Verna Adams denied a defense request to stop the execution. An appeal for

clemency A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the ju ...

was forwarded to California Governor

Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, film producer, businessman, retired professional bodybuilder and politician who served as the 38th governor of California between 2003 and 2011. ''Time'' ...

. Prosecutor Rod Pacheco wrote to Schwarzenegger urging him not to intervene. The governor refused Brown's request to commute the sentence to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

without parole, but he delayed the execution to 9 p.m. on September 30 to provide appeals courts more time to review the case. Brown alleged that he suffered

child abuse Child abuse (also called child endangerment or child maltreatment) is physical, sexual, and/or psychological maltreatment or neglect of a child or children, especially by a parent or a caregiver. Child abuse may include any act or failure to a ...

that should have been brought up at his trial. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Fogel to revisit the case because California law specified that the inmate had to choose between the

gas chamber A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or other animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. Poisonous agents used include hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide. Histor ...

and

, not the drugs themselves. Fogel admitted his offer to Brown was "ill-advised" and halted the execution to permit time to determine whether the new injection procedures addressed defense arguments of

. The appeals court also noted that the prison's supply of sodium thiopental, a drug required for lethal injection, was expiring on October 1. A state appeal to resume the execution by 7 p.m. on September 30 was unanimously denied by the California Supreme Court. California and other states had run short of the drug because the manufacturer

Hospira Hospira was an American global pharmaceutical and medical device company with headquarters in Lake Forest, Illinois. It had approximately 19,000 employees. Before its acquisition by Pfizer, Hospira was the world's largest producer of generic inj ...

was unable to meet demand at least until January 2011 because of raw material supply issues. State Attorney General

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Secretary of S ...

(no relation) recommended halting execution proceedings until necessary supplies were secured. His office stated that a new date would be scheduled as soon as legally possible. On October 6, 2010, the state attorney general's office notified Judge Fogel in a court filing that the state had obtained enough sodium thiopental for up to four more executions. Scott Kernan of the

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) is the penal law enforcement agency of the government of California responsible for the operation of the California state prison and parole systems. Its headquarters are in Sacrame ...

called the

Arizona Department of Corrections The Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation & Reentry, commonly and formerly referred to as simply the Arizona Department of Corrections, is the statutory law enforcement agency responsible for the incarceration of inmates in 13 prisons ...

"life savers" for providing 12 grams of the drug after the

Texas Department of Criminal Justice The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is a department of the government of the U.S. state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice for adult offenders, including managing offenders in state prisons, state jails, ...

denied a similar request. The state of California spent $36,415 to acquire an additional 521 g of sodium thiopental from Archimedes Pharma of

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

to last until 2014. Fogel stated that he understood the state would request a new execution date no earlier than 30 days after court hearings, which were expected in 2011. Susan Louise Jordan's sister, Karen, criticized the distress to her family caused by the delays: "The appeals process in California has proven to be nothing more than a never-ending war of attrition against justice and the rights of victims and their families."

Politicization of execution

Brown's lawyers blamed the move to execute their client on the tight race between

and

Meg Whitman Margaret Cushing Whitman (born August 4, 1956) is the US ambassador to Kenya, an American business executive and former gubernatorial candidate for California. She is a board member of Procter & Gamble and General Motors. Whitman was previously ...

for the 2010 California gubernatorial election to succeed retiring Governor Schwarzenegger. The office of State Attorney General Jerry Brown pushed to resume capital punishment after the adoption of new regulations in California.

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

nominee Whitman claimed, "None of this squares with Jerry Brown's record." The Democratic campaign of Jerry Brown, who pledged to "enforce the laws" of California, denied any connection between the case and the election. Prosecutor Rod Pacheco, who supported Whitman, said that it would be unfair to accuse Jerry Brown of using the execution for political gain, as they had never discussed the case. Jerry Brown was quoted as saying, "Albert Greenwood Brown Jr. deserves everything that he has coming to him in regards to due process. I have no doubt that his execution will be carried out fastidiously and in a timely manner." Jerry Brown won the election in November 2010.

References

External links

The People v. Albert Greenwood Brown, Jr.; 726 P.2d 516
small> –

(December 5, 1985)
Albert Greenwood Brown v. Steven W. Ornoski, Warden; No. 05-99008
small> – U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals (June 14, 2007)
Reprieve for Albert Greenwood Brown, Jr.
small> – Governor

(expired on September 29, 2010) {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Albert Greenwood 1954 births Living people People from Tulare, California American murderers of children American people convicted of child sexual abuse American people convicted of murder American people convicted of rape American prisoners sentenced to death Criminals from California People convicted of murder by California Prisoners sentenced to death by California Murder in Riverside County, California United States Marine Corps personnel who were court-martialed