Not Guilty Verdict In Chamberlayne Avenue Shooting
On November 12, 2009, in the Richmond Circuit Court, a jury acquitted Martin Lee Brown on the charges of aggravated malicious wounding and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. In this case argued by Horace F. Hunter, the jury found that Brown acted in self-defense and the prosecution witnesses completely lacked credibility.
The case stemmed from the March 29th shooting of Keith Basset on the 3200 block of Chamberlayne Avenue. The shooting left Bassett in critical condition although he has mostly recovered from his injuries. The shooting appeared to be related to an ongoing dispute between Brown and Bassett that culminated in the shooting.
The problem with the case for the prosecution was that Bassett was a known drug dealer and had threatened Brown on more than one occasion. Also, the testimony from Bassett and other prosecution witnesses appeared to be extremely far fetched in relation to the known evidence. It appeared, from the evidence, that Bassett waited for Brown to leave work in the early morning hours of March 29th.
As Brown was walking home on Chamberlayne Avenue, Bassett surprised him as he came from behind a building with a 9mm semi-automatic firearm drawn. In an effort to defend himself, Brown was able to shoot Basset first even as Bassett fired several rounds at Brown as he attempted to flee the scene. Bassett was not able to adequately explain how he just so happened to be on Chamberlayne Avenue at 3:00 a.m. at the exact time that Martin Brown was walking home from work. He also had a very difficult time explaining how he was able to shoot at Brown several times after having been shot in the face if his gun was not already drawn and primed.
All of these unanswered questions left the jury little doubt that Brown acted in self-defense and they delivered their verdict of acquittal after deliberating less than one hour.
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