By Ray King
A Cleveland County woman convicted of first-degree murder failed to convince the Arkansas Court of Appeals that the state failed to consider substantial evidence that she was justified because she had been abused by the victim.
Emily Kate-Marie Brown, 34, is currently serving a 35-year sentence at the McPherson Unit of the Arkansas Department of Corrections after a jury found her guilty in the shooting death of her former boyfriend, Christopher Miller, in 2022.
Trial testimony indicated Miller and his step-father, Felon Newsom, were traveling from the step-father’s house in Alabama where Miller had been staying while recovering from Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, to visit the son he shared with Brown. He had previously been hospitalized for two weeks, which included a period of time in a medically induced coma.
Newsom testified that when they arrived at Brown’s fathers house and Miller went to the back of the house where Brown was waiting for him. He testified that he heard two gunshots and heard Miller holler for help. He said he saw Miller fall off the porch and saw Brown walked over on top of Miller and fire additional shots.
An autopsy by Dr. Stephen Erickson indicated that Miller had been shot six times, with four of those shots being fired either in quick succession or Miller was not moving at the time.
Cleveland County Chief Deputy Gary Young was the lead investigator and testified he interviewed Brown who said she and Miller had been in an abusive relationship and had been separated for about a year and-a-half. She said when she started dating someone new, Miller would send her threatening notes and stalked her. She asked for an order of protection but had trouble getting Miller served.
She devised a plan to get Miller to come see his son and she would have deputies there to serve him with the order. She said when she told Miller deputies were coming, he threatened to kill her and took a step toward her, prompting her to take her own gun out and shoot him.
At trial, Brown contended that she acted in self-defense and said the state failed to sufficiently shut down that defense but the Appeals Court said while Brown presented substantial evidence of domestic abuse, the existence of that abuse in itself does not justify the use of deadly force.
That because of his weakened condition, the threat to Brown had ended before the final shots were fired.
Brown will be eligible to apply for parole in December 2048.
