Page 6 - Derwin Brown News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Let's go home and celebrate again, you know. >> he was -- could not get into his driveway because there were some cars there. he parked on the road. 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 ...

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, three 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 couldn't do anything. >> it was clear to police by the type of weapon, a tech .9, a pistol favored by career crimina...

Were it not for a huge tactical mistake that sid dorsey, himself, made, he could be walking the streets right now. >> it is widely believed that had dorsey decided to be tried in dekalb, he may have easily been acquitted, like walker and ramsey. >> dorsey was still a popular, well-known figure in dekalb county. and i think a dekalb county jury would have been very skeptical of the evidence against him. >> i'm going to be in prison on the outside, but i'll be free on the inside. >> before his sentencing, dorsey steadfastly maintained his innocence. >> i do not have the blood of derwin brown on ...

The verdict was read on july 10th, 2002. >> we, the jury, find the defendant as to count one guilty. as to count two, guilty. >> dorsey was convicted of 12 of 15 counts of murder, racketeering, violation of the oath of office and eight counts of theft. >> as to count three, guilty. as to count four, not guilty. as to count five, not guilty. as to count six, guilty. >> phyllis and robert brown collapsed in an embrace. >> count eight, guilty. as to count nine, guilty. >> we were able to show that he was using the sheriffs department as an organized crime, if you will, and that by assassinating d...

>> this was not a domestic. this was not a botched robbery, this was an assassination. 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 dorsey. but it di...