Page 6 - Derwin Brown News Today

Use of his inmates and deputies. dorsey continued to defend himself. >> the only thing i can say to you and the world is that sidney dorsey is innocent of all of these accusations. there is no corruption in the dekalb county sheriffs office. those accusations are completely and totally false. >> and brown continued to plan for change. >> his main concern was cleaning up the jail, making sure that the programs that were in place were actually going to benefit the people that they were designed to...

Didnt you just look in the phonebook? he said, youre in the phonebook? i said, yes, im the only j. tom morgan in the phone book. he said, well, damn, we wasted all that time. right then i knew who am i dealing with? >> but perhaps the most stunning footnote to this story came late in the summer of 2007. from inside his isolation cell in the georgia state prison at reidsville prisoner 1148460 said he wanted to talk to the current dekalb county d.a., gwen keyes fleming. >> sidney dorsey, the man c...

Time. >> he had kind of surrounded himself with some kind of thuggish characters and dorsey began referring to himself in the third person. >> they started this relentless attack on sidney dorsey, morning, afternoon, evening, reporting constantly. apparently, the voting community was very confused. >> fiscal responsibility of professional management. these things have not been addressed because of all of these side issues. >> the heated general election was too close to call. and a runoff was ne...

Brown were now in prison for life after two trials. the mastermind of the hit, former sheriff sidney dorsey, also in prison for life. >> wait a minute. >> the cost to the family was unmeasurable. in addition to losing a husband, father and grandfather in a hail of gunfire just days before he was to become the sheriff, his wife, phyllis brown, died of heart failure at age 52. 3 1/2 years after suffering a major stroke. >> that murder and the subsequent trials took a tremendous toll on her. >> and...

He was walking to the door with the roses in his hand. >> initially, i heard what i thought were fire crackers. because it just went pop, pop. but by the time it popped again, i realized it was gunshots. and i have to say that for once in my life, i remembered everything derwin ever told me to do. i told everybody to get down and get out of the room. pick up the phone, call 911, tell them shots are fired. because i honestly thought that it was at the other house. by the time things quieted down,...

I was like, im so proud of you. i told him, i said, im tired. i will just see you in the morning at breakfast and well continue. im thinking of going back to the house. he said, okay, thats fine. im going to sit here a while longer. he was talking to someone. and im headed on home. >> at about 11:00 p.m., brown drove home alone. he parked at the curb. phyllis was inside watching tv with robert crowder and her son, michael. michael saw derwin walk toward the house carrying roses and some christma...

Derwin brown was dead. the popular former police captain who campaigned for sheriff and won on the promise of reform, was gunned down in his front yard just before christmas 2000, 3 days before he was to be inaugurated. >> it was like a dream. i guess because i really thought i was in a dream, i had -- you know, i dreamt that i was strong and took care of business the way derwin would have wanted me to take care of business. >> i was in shock. i was -- i was just in shock. i couldnt do anything....

Here is what is happening right now. the northeast continuing to dig out after deadly storms that took a heavy toll on several states. the wintry blast knocked out power to more than 3 million homes. and a new report indicates that president obama and the pen pentagon will send more troops to the gulf. and they plan to continue troops in that region. the investigation into the shooting of derwin brown on december 15th, 2000, was dead in the water for nearly a year. and now a stunning turn of...

A crime that affects not only the family and the community but the very system that we all support and that supports us. >> again the brown family, with phyllis continuing to weaken, was present every day of the trial at the federal courthouse in atlanta. it was the third trial since derwin brown died. u.s. attorneys tried to show how dorsey and the four co-conspirators spent four months planning the murder and how they conducted surveillance on brown about 20 times before they killed him. >> yo...

Who would want the sheriff elect assassinated? >> brown had been preparing to shake things up at the jail, secretly meeting with the district attorney swapping stories about corruption by outgoing sheriff, sidney dorsey. >> i just had dinner with derwin a week before he was murdered, and then to see him later in the morgue right before the autopsy started was one of those images i will never forget. >> the killing of derwin brown just made no sense at all. the only real enemy he had was sid dors...