Earlier this month, former Second Circuit Court
for Appeals Judge Henry Brown abruptly resigned. He could have served through
2020, winning his first term in 1990, although because he would have been well
above the age of 70 for the next election he couldn’t have run again. The circuit
includes all of north Louisiana, although his particular district stretched
from Bossier to Caldwell Parishes.
The state’s Judiciary Commission stood poised to discipline
him, with him apparently ordered by the Supreme Court not to carry out the
duties of his office. It appears complaints against him that he tried to
interfere in a case heard by some of his colleagues led to that command,
triggering his resignation.
The case involved a woman appealing an award against her. She knew Brown from a house sale so for that reason he couldn’t be assigned to the three-judge panel hearing the case. However, one of Brown’s law clerks was fired earlier this year for activities connected to that case now under investigation by the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office.
It’s not the first time Brown found himself
enmeshed in a hullabaloo. Prior to his election, Brown had served for 15 years
as Bossier/Webster Parish District Attorney, succeeding Charles “Corky” Marvin
with his election to the Second Circuit (his son Schuyler now serves as 26th
District DA).
Brown became known for his aggressive prosecutions
for murder, which brought him national publicity. Yet perhaps he became most famous
for one of that kind of case he ultimately didn’t win, the murder of Vicki
Thomas allegedly by James Monds. Brown initially secured a conviction, but
years later the Fourth Circuit (the Second having recused itself) overturned it.
More interestingly, Monds’ attorney John Milkovich
ended up accusing Brown and the presiding district judge Graydon Kitchens not
only of legal errors, but of Brown and Monds’ former wife plotting to kill Thomas.
The claim of Milkovich, subsequently elected to the state Senate in 2015, Brown’s
successor Jim Bullers declared nonsensical.
A few years prior to this, Brown found himself subject
to another unusual charge. Part of the testimony in a federal
case involving immunity of federal law enforcement officers was an
accusation of corrupt activities in Brown’s office (interestingly, one party to
the case represented by Milkovich). It featured plenty of rumor, but no evidence
of the charge’s veracity.
Still another high-profile case involved Brown tangentially.
In 2008, Charles Pilkinton was arrested for killing a man in the company of his
estranged wife. Testifying on his behalf at his bond hearing was old family
friend Brown. Two years later, after one mistrial Pilkinton pled
guilty to manslaughter.
This wasn’t the first time a spouse of Pilkinton’s
was involved in a mysterious death. In 1982, his previous wife was found dead.
Brown, then DA, chose not prosecute anyone for it with the death ruled a
suicide. Nor was it the first time Pilkinton was involved in a murder trial; he
sat on the jury that convicted Monds, the conviction asked for by his
friend Brown.
With a lengthy career punctuated by events out of
the ordinary, if not bizarre, perhaps it seems fitting that Brown’s life in
elective office would end in the way that it did. And it might have political repercussions
for two figures.
One is Milkovich, a Democrat who next year must
defend his seat in a Republican-leaning district. He hasn’t gone on the record
in recent years about his statements concerning Brown nearly a quarter-century
ago, but with Brown’s departure opponents might find a way to force that
episode into the public spotlight as part of the campaign.
The other is Schuyler Marvin. He may wish to
emulate his father with a seat on the court, but his timing in 2020 would have
been bad: Brown’s spot would have come open at the same time he would have to
run for reelection, meaning he would have had to choose between the two posts
with his next chance at age 68. Now he doesn’t have to; with a special election
early next year, he can take a shot and not give up his chance to continue as
DA.
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