Camellia Brown

Background

Camellia Boyd Norton Brown was a Knightdale woman whose case involved the shooting death of her ex-husband, Earl Thierry Brown. She had been fixated for years over unfounded allegations that her ex-husband abused their two children. The couple married in 1996 and divorced five years later.

Authorities said Camellia Brown had a history of trouble in relation to the couple’s custody battle and repeatedly violated court orders to stay away from her ex-husband and the couple’s two children. Concerns about her mental stability emerged in the years after the couple’s 2001 divorce.

A Wake County judge later found that Camellia Brown’s mental instability had traumatized the children and “as such, constituted child abuse.”

The offence

Camellia Brown shot and killed her ex-husband, Earl Thierry Brown, at Pullen Park in Raleigh. The shooting happened around 7 p.m. at Pullen Park, with the couple’s 8-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son nearby.

Wake County Deputy District Attorney Howard Cummings said during a hearing that Camellia Brown and her former husband were meeting to exchange custody of their 6-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter. Cummings said the children were in Earl Brown’s car eating pizza, and Camellia Brown and Earl Brown were outside the car when she shot him once with a .22-caliber revolver.

Earl Brown was taken to a local hospital and died a short time later.

Camellia Brown told Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens: “I didn't mean for him to die that day,” and also said: “I'm sorry that it came to that, but I believed he was, in fact, destroying my children.”

Brown told Stephens: she had neither seen her husband nor the children for more than a year and felt like that she wasn’t going to get to see them again.

At sentencing, Camellia Brown said she meant to shoot her husband in the spleen, because it could have been removed, and purposely made sure to avoid his kidney because he had undergone a transplant.

Investigation

A 911 call implicated Camellia Brown in the attack. Earl Brown used a cell phone to tell emergency dispatchers that his ex-wife had attacked him before she took the phone and echoed his statement.

On the call, Earl Brown said: “Just go away, please,” and then: “I'm at Pullen Park, I've been shot.”

As Earl Brown’s condition worsened, Camellia Brown was heard saying: “I killed you, I killed you.” She then spoke with the emergency dispatcher between screams and sobs. After the dispatcher asked whether she shot Earl Brown, Camellia Brown responded that she had. The couple’s two children could be heard in the background of the call, and Camellia Brown told them to pray.

After a Raleigh police officer arrived, the officer began consoling the children, saying: “It's all right, it's all right,” and: “Things are OK.”

Police believed Camellia Brown fixated for years over unfounded allegations that her ex-husband abused their two children, and police said she repeatedly violated protective orders. Authorities said she broke into Earl Brown’s Knightdale home and, several times, wore a wig to pass undetected at the children’s school.

Thomas Dimmock, an attorney who represented Earl Brown in custody proceedings, said: “She so firmly believed [that abuse occurred] that it just ate her up,” and also said: “She has some serious delusions about reality and facts.”

Arrest and pretrial

Camellia Brown was arrested March 24, 2006 after she shot Earl Thierry Brown, 42, at Pullen Park off of Ashe Avenue.

Raleigh police charged Camellia Brown with murder and held her without bail in the Wake County jail.

The 47-year-old woman was in court Monday, where she was ordered held without bond after being charged with murder in connection with the Friday shooting death of Earl Thierry Brown.

Police said the divorced couple had custody proceedings and their two children were together at Pullen Park.

Camellia Brown had been told by a Wake County judge not to come near Earl Brown or the couple’s two children after a five-year custody battle.

Background on custody history and mental stability findings

Authorities said Camellia Brown repeatedly violated court orders to stay away from her ex-husband and children, including breaking into Earl Brown’s Knightdale home and wearing a wig to pass undetected at the children’s school.

Thomas Dimmock described her mental state in relation to custody proceedings. A 16-page October court order that gave sole custody to Earl Brown and prohibited Camellia Brown from having any contact with her children detailed a five-year battle in which Camellia Brown attempted to obtain protective orders by falsely claiming Earl Brown had physically abused their son and sexually molested their daughter.

The same court order also described other actions by Camellia Brown, including:

• Threatening to kill her ex-husband.
• Claiming that her husband was having personal contact with social workers who were involved in the couple’s custody dispute.
• Peppering her daughter with false allegations that the girl’s father sexually molested her.

A judge wrote that Camellia Brown’s mental state “created an environment where [the daughter] believed things occurred whether or not they did, in fact happen... .”

As the custody case dragged on, Camellia Brown became more agitated and appeared, at times, mentally unstable, according to court documents.

Court documents alleged she violated court instructions by showing up at the home of a social worker who worked with the family. They also alleged she violated a 2003 protective order that prohibited her from being within 500 feet of Earl Brown, her children, or the children’s schools.

In November 2004, Camellia Brown moved into an apartment that overlooked her ex-husband’s back yard. She would at times don a spiral curled wig and go to the children’s schools.

In February 2005, a Wake County judge found that Camellia Brown violated the 2003 protective order. The judge ruled she must live 2,000 feet away from her children and have no contact with her ex-husband or children.

In June, Knightdale police arrested her when she broke into Earl Brown’s home, demanding to see her son and daughter. Earl Brown’s next-door neighbor and landlord, Betty Schmiedel, said before the June break-in she would often see Camellia Brown lurking around the home. Schmiedel said Earl Brown didn’t talk about the problems very much, but that day brought his children over Schmiedel’s house so they wouldn’t see police arrest their mother. Schmiedel said: “He was always concerned about his children,” and: “He was a good daddy.”

Bruce James, a friend who allowed Camellia Brown to move into his Fuquay-Varina home in August, said she was piecing her life back together and cared for elderly neighbors. James said when Brown left Fuquay-Varina on Friday afternoon, she said she was going to the Wake County Courthouse in downtown Raleigh. James said she made no mention of plans to see her children or ex-husband.

Trial

Camellia Brown’s first-degree murder trial was delayed for years after another judge ruled that she was incompetent to stand trial and ordered that she undergo treatment at a state mental hospital.

During the sentencing hearing, Camellia Brown told Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens: “I didn't mean for him to die that day,” and also said: “I'm sorry that it came to that, but I believed he was, in fact, destroying my children.”

Sentencing

Camellia Brown pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

She was sentenced to 16 to 20 years in prison on February 13, 2013.

Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens gave her credit for time served, meaning she would have to serve at least nine more years in prison before she could be released.

The first time she would be up for a possibility of parole would be when the children, now 13 and 15, were adults.

Howard Cummings said: “It's always been the position of the family that she planned this. Otherwise, why would you take a gun to visit with your ex-husband who had custody of your children?” He also said: “He was a fine son and a fine brother,” and: “It's for that reason and only that reason that the family agreed to this second-degree murder plea.” Cummings also said: “If they were to see her now, I don't think it would be very good for them,” and: “It's still fresh in their minds what she did.”

Cummings said the first time she would be up for a possibility of parole would be when the children were adults, and he said: “Hopefully, at that time, they will have matured and be able to make their own decisions about whether or not they have any desire to see their mother.”

Camellia Brown said she meant to shoot her husband in the spleen because it could have been removed, and purposely made sure to avoid his kidney because he had undergone a transplant.

Appeals

No appeal information was stated beyond the note that her first-degree murder trial was delayed for years after a judge ruled she was incompetent to stand trial and ordered treatment at a state mental hospital.

Outcome

Camellia Brown was convicted after pleading guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 16 to 20 years in prison.

Aftermath

Earl Brown’s mother, Suzanne Brown, said she agreed to the plea deal only to keep the children from having to testify. She said: “If they were to see her now, I don't think it would be very good for them,” and: “It's still fresh in their minds what she did.”

A funeral service for Earl Brown would be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Mid-Way Baptist Church, 6910 Fayetteville Road in Raleigh.

Other details

Camellia Brown had an unsuccessful bid for mayor of Garner in 1993 when she ran as Camellia B. Norton.

Raleigh police detectives did not say on Monday why they thought the divorced couple and their two children were together at Pullen Park.

Earl Brown went by Thierry and was described as a state Department of Revenue employee.

Camellia Brown was charged with murder by the Raleigh Police Department and was being held without bail in the Wake County jail.

Earl Brown died at WakeMed Raleigh Campus five hours after being shot in the torso at 7 p.m. in Raleigh's Pullen Park.

At the hearing Thursday, Howard Cummings said during a hearing that the couple’s children were in Earl Brown’s car eating pizza and Camellia Brown and Earl Brown were outside the car when she shot him once with a .22-caliber revolver.

Camellia Brown was described as 47 years old at the time described in the March 28, 2006 account. Earl Thierry Brown was described as 42 years old.

Camellia Brown told the Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens about her belief that her ex-husband was destroying their children.

Camellia Brown told the dispatcher on the 911 call between screams and sobs whether she shot Earl Brown, and she also told the children to pray.