Mike Miller: Okay. In that essay, one of the sentences says that you view little chance to ever receive a fair hearing. I hope this hearing today will correct that impression. We... this Board is dedicated to give you a fair hearing.
Anthony Brown: I believe... I believe that to be the case. And, I don't think that the reason I felt I could not receive a fair hearing at that time, was related to the composition of the Board or the members. Ah... it had to do with difficulties I ah... had with probation officers.
Mike Miller: I guess I don't have anything more, at this time. Ah... we all may have later, but counsel did you?
Vance Sanders: Yes, Mr. Chair. For the record, Mr. Moses, in response to your question about the thirty-eight dollars, that's on page 21 of the Trooper's Report, about mid-way down, where they document that the thirty-eight dollars was in Mr. Christiansen's right-hand pocket of his shirt. That wasn't in his wallet. That was actually in his shirt. Just for the record, that's 21 of the Trooper's Report.
Charles Moses: Right, right, but we do have Mr. Brown taking the wallet from the deceased.
Vance Sanders: Yes, sir. Yes, sir, that's true.
Charles Moses: And, thank you, for that counsel.
Vance Sanders: Yes, Sir.
Mike Miller: Ms. Fischer, did you have anything more that you want to say, at this stage? Again, I'm not trying to make you say statements...
Jeanne Fischer: Yeah...
Mike Miller: ... I just don't want anybody to feel that they haven't been heard.
Jeanne Fischer: You know, I guess um... I'm hearing some different things here that I think need to be clarified. One is that Mr. Brown called for Eric Christiansen at cab company to come pick him up. In records, it appeared that he did not call the company, he was standing outside the road and flagged the cab driver down, according to the police reports. So, I wanted to clarify that. Um... there are some ah... big differences between what is written in the Pre-sentence Report, what has been written in Mr. Brown's previous applications regarding the ah... the version of the offence and also the police reports ah... and I don't know if you'd like me to go through what I fear some of the differences here that... for the record, to clarify?
Mike Miller: Well, anything that you think would be significant. I'm not interested in trivial stuff, but... and I'm not implying that you're trying to trivialize anything... (Chuckle)
Jeanne Fischer: (Laughter)
Mike Miller: ...but, if there's something significant that would bear on our decision, then I wish you would point out the differences, but otherwise...
Jeanne Fischer: Well, some of the things that I would also like to clarify are... are in response to Mr. Sander's memo, so maybe we would continue with the hearing and I would put it all in one lump summary,
Mike Miller: Okay. Okay. Perhaps it's time the Board to make a decision, as to whether they hear Dr. Mander or not ah... what is the... what's the consensus of the Board?
Jess Holloway: Mr. Miller, if I may?
Mike Miller: Mr. Holloway...
Jess Holloway: Would you briefly explain the difference that you see, and the difference that... that's in the other report? I mean, what is the difference? Is it an issue that we need to..
Jeanne Fischer: Well um...
Jess Holloway: ...to discuss right here?
Jeanne Fischer: I think it's an issue because... and I'm planning to maybe go into... through it with the victims on the phone. (She starts flipping loudly through papers.) I think they need to know that... that there were differences, which also was... was also a very large part of why I felt like I needed to change my recommendation. (Flip, flip, flip...) Um... so, I can go through it now, (Flip, flip, flip...) if, you know, the small details. Ah... you know I don't believe ah... (Flip, flip, flip...) that this was just a random... (Flip, flip, flip...) spontaneous killing. (Flip, flip, flip...) I believe Mr. Brown had planned it. I think he's... he's took the weapon from the home um... (Flip, flip, flip...) at some point, either that evening or the next day. (Flip, flip, flip...) Um... (Flip, flip...) I don't he was sitting in the back seat of the cab, I think he was standing next to the cab when he pulled the trigger. And, the police reports would support that. (Flip, flip, flip...) Um...
Mike Miller: If, ah... if I might say, the victims have a right...
Jeanne Fischer: Yeah...
Mike Miller: ...to everything except that confidential information that...
Jeanne Fischer: So...
Mike Miller: ...Dr. Mander may be speaking to in his report, so if the question is something specific to report...
Jeanne Fischer: Yeah...
Mike Miller: ... I think now is the time, without the victims...
Jeanne Fischer: Right.
Mike Miller: ...to discuss that. But, if it's general nature they have a right, by statute, to hear... to be a party to the full hearing, so...
Jeanne Fischer: Yeah...
Charles Moses: That's... that was...
Mike Miller: It hard to discern where...
Jeanne Fischer: So...
Mike Miller: ...where that break-point is for sure, for you, but to... I would think that...
Mike Miller: I think that's a standard program for people who are involved back when... this was an armed robbery, in addition to the murder, as well as people who may, or may not, have sold drugs. It's just a way to feel... to keep tab on (inaudible word or two)' Where'd this five hundred dollars come from?' is what it amounts to.
Jess Holloway: Just to clarify, it's not a prohibition on spending that money. You spend it and actually the ah... the ah condition reads that within twenty-four hours, you have to notify... just so you understand, that it's not a prohibition against spending...
Vance Sanders: I see.
Jess Holloway: ...that money.
Vance Sanders: It's just a notification request.
Jess Holloway: Yes
Vance Sanders: Now I understand the reason for it.
Mike Miller: Okay. Ah... Ms. Fischer this would probably the ah... time for you to both make a summary and also point out... what you were...
Jeanne Fischer: (inaudible couple words)
Mike Miller: ...what you were trying to point out earlier, and that you felt the witnesses should...
Jeanne Fischer: Yeah...
Mike Miller: ...I mean, that the victims should hear that, so...
Jeanne Fischer: Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, originally when I was ah... going through Mr. Brown parole application um... I reviewed his prior applications, his versions of the offense, the pre-sentence report um... sentencing transcripts, the information there. I didn't see very many areas that I would've considered concerns, the history of violence, work history, there wasn't much here in the files. Mr. Brown talked in his versions that a lot of it was drug and alcohol induced, he didn't remember things um... maybe if he hadn't of been doing the drugs he may not of committed this crime and, in working in this field we see people do hideous things under the influence of alcohol and drugs, and we know that after they... you know, can get on a path of sobriety that they can pull their lives together, that they can become... you know, successful ah... citizens in the community. Um, and with that, I also didn't see a reason to um... you know I was supporting Jean Danzel's recommendation for parole. I couldn't find the things that, to me, would have been red flags. They weren't here um... He had had a good institutional record, he's done well in programming, he's got more letters of recommendation then anybody I've ever seen um... so with all of that I felt, that as a professional um... I felt that I needed to go along with her recommendation.
Then I got the police reports, and that's where ah, ah... dramatically changed my... a perceptions of this crime um... I think that it was a very random, calculated murder um... as the victims have been talking about in all of their letters. I... I didn't really think I could really get copies of those, obviously they had never been forwarded to the Board before um... but in my investigation, I got 'em um... a lot of things are different. In Mr. Brown's previous parole application back in 1991, he talks about going... being stoned and up all night and showing up at Cheryl Alexander's home at three in the morning. Getting up at five or six in the morning, you know... indicating that maybe he had not had much sleep and supporting this kind of allusion that he'd been rendered the influence of all these drugs where the testimony and the police records indicate that he had been at this girlfriend's home since eleven o'clock that night. In the police investigation in their questioning of her she never reported anything about
partying all night, that there was anything unusual or... or significant ah... information... or useful to this investigation. She uh... also was the one that showed Mr. Brown the gun. He ah... at one point, whether he came back the next day and took it or even that following morning. They left the home at 9:30, he'd done a number of things, including going over to several friends house. There's (sigh) one of the ah... women had said that yes he would spaced out, not quite as much as he had of been that Tuesday or Wednesday evening prior to... to this offense. Urn... somehow or another he ended up on the road. He, what I see, he did not call a cab as all of his um... statements indicate, the police reports indicate that he flagged the cab down and the cab stopped and gave him a ride. Um.... now how he ended up out on the Chena Ridge, he claims that he'd had... his family had owned property out there, he'd lived out there at some point. I was also thought it was interesting, his testimony in the... in the police reports, people had testified that Mr. Brown been... gotten around guns all of his life. He knew that it would take a much larg... a large caliber bullet to kill somebody and I speculate that maybe he had gone out to this very rural area, not so much to check on somebody's homestead as he would like us to... to think. Which is a nice quaint thought, but that he knew that shooting a 44 caliber Bulldog was gonna be a huge shot and would make a lot of noise. He needed to get into a place where (someone coughs) the gun wouldn't be heard and it wasn't. There were, oddly enough um... the plane was flying over-head, the city electric van had seen him, the other couple that had been driving by, all saw Mr. Brown standing next to the car. Now, if you can imagine when somebody is shot in their head and... and the curious thing Mr. Brown claims he was sitting in the back of the car, in one of his statements, that he was stunned, he got out eventually and came around to see what the condition of the cab driver was. At that point, the cab driver's foot must have gone on the gas, to me that doesn't make any sense, if somebody was having a bullet going through their head and... the natural reaction, I would imagine, would be if his foot was still on the gas, to push forward as part of that whole process. Everybody had seen Mr. Brown standing next to the cab, the cab driver's window was open two inches, I would speculate that that's where the crime occurred. (Someone clearing their throat) Um... there was foot prints going down to the cab, that they identified to be Mr. Brown's, and then leaving um... Mr. Brown states in some of his interview that he'd opened the door um... and then he left. The people that he'd flagged down, they all said that, you know... they... it was kind of like everything's okay, keep going, was the one car's reaction. The other people said go get help um... you know, eventually he ends up walking on the road and a school bus picks him up. And he gets on the school bus very nonchalantly...
Mike Miller: Excuse me, I think Mr. Holloway, did you want...
Jess Holloway: I know ah... I think I hear where you're going with this, but we've read the information. And, I think that the family has read the information. Legal counsel. The defendant. We've all read the information so, I think for us to relive this whole case is not getting us where we want to go. I guess, I would like for you to make a recommendation and...
Jeanne Fischer: Okay.
Jess Holloway: ...tell us what is, make a synopsis of this...
Jeanne Fischer: I guess um... I don't believe that the victim's have read the police reports and I was also kind of referring to Mr. Brown's letter about "The Victimizing Victim' um... that he has claimed that they have, you know, told blatant untruths and blah, blah, blah... And, actually um... all of the information in these police reports supports everything that they have been saying for the last three hearings um... So, I want it to be very clear for their sake, what the official records had to say. Um... the cross in blood, Mr. Blood alleges that it was a 'smear' um... it was very much clear, in the police reports that it was a two inch by four inch cross, um... as far as Mr. Sanders pressing on why that was not written. If you look at that report it was actually typed the next day, what officer's do when they come on a scene is look at the field notes, they make their notes... I did talk to Trooper McCoy about this incident, he remembered it vividly. The first thing that they do is wait for a video camera, and apparently the cross in blood is... is on that camera, I don't know where the footage is of it, there was no doubt hi their mind what it was. Um... so, my recommendation is that this whole thing be put to rest, once and for all. I don't think that anything we've heard from Dr. Mander, or anything that I’ve read would make me feel that Mr. Brown is less of a risk um... to the public. I'm concerned about um... the District Attorney hi this case, that had told me that Mr. Brown had threatened his life. The Trooper in this case, told me that Mr. Brown has threatened his life, um... I think those are some good reasons, on those people's parts...
Vance Sanders: Look, Mr. Chair, I'm going to object to this. I mean, that is not only hearsay... I know that these are informal proceedings but that's hearsay, within hearsay, within hearsay, and a... I don't know that for a fact that... that those people have told Ms. Fischer that Mr... I mean, we are going so far out in speculation...
Jeanne Fischer: But....
Vance Sanders: I just, it's not part of the record. I don't feel that that's a fair, I don't feel that that's part of a recommendation. A fairly part of a recommendation...
Jeanne Fischer: Okay. I will withdraw that then...
Mike Miller: I will say on, specifically by statute we can hear hearsay...
Vance Sanders: I know...
Mike Mille: And... and so I guess ah... we have to evaluate ah... you now, we... we don't rely on hearsay as we rely on a witness statement, but... but we are specifically allowed to hear hearsay and evaluate the speaker, and we also evaluate the evidence.
Jeanne Fischer: Well... I will stand by my recommendation. I think that this thing needs to be put to rest ah... Mr. Brown needs to be denied parole. Um... the victim's need to get on with their life and feel that maybe some justice has been served. Mr. Brown believes that they're out for revenge, I don't feel that at all. I think that they want the truth um... they want to make sure that nobody else becomes a victim um... and, that's all I have to say.
Mike Miller: Mr. Sanders, do you have a summary?
Vance Sanders: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just... just so the record is clear, I'm not going to belabor anything in it, but just to correct some of the... the things that Ms. Fischer has just indicated. First of all, I can't find it in the report right now, but the record indicates that the call came into, I think it's Page Communications for the cab... for the... for Mr. Brown to pick up the cab. The forensic evidence showed that the weapon was fired in the cab ah... on... if the Board will look to the 6/8/76 interview of the cab driver, he testified that he dropped Mr. An... Mr. Brown off 2:30 the morning of the crime, 2:30 A.M. He was not at Cheryl’s house at 11:30 that night, so that's the cab driver that dropped him off the morning. That the size of the, what has been represented to be a cross, is now two inches by four inches, actually page 19 of the record says 'one by two', and my letter goes to the other... you know, I think a fair read of the record is as indicated in our ah... my letter to the Board. That there were serious, serious problems at the time with what Mr. Mander talked about. A serious level of drug consumption at the time, sleep deprivation, and you know... but the point is, not as far as we're concerned, not what is in the police record, but... but I think what this Board has to do is evaluate fairly um... whether or not Mr. Brown is a candidate for discretionary parole. Is he the same person that murdered, he admits murdered Eric Christiansen in 1976? I think the record of his incarceration over the last twenty-four years shows he isn't. He has been ah... a free of a substance abuse for almost ten years at this point. He's completed every single program that the Department has required him to complete, he's done it in a stellar-manner. He has a... a stellar-work history, he was evaluated for employment and deemed a very suitable candidate for employment, and I think the question now is, whether or not, based on all the evidence available to this Board, including Dr. Mander's ah... what I think has been characterized as... as very high quality testing, that we have to make a prediction about whether or not Mr. Brown will re-offend, and I think the evidence says he won't. So, I think when you make a decision, you have not to concentrate so much on what are the records of twenty-four years old, but what... what he's likely to do now. I, I'm a father, I'm a husband, in my heart I can't possibly imagine the grief that this family has felt for twenty-four years. And, I think (clears throat), as everyone on this Board... you know, we have to recognize that this has been a tragic loss to this family.