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Prosecutor Gives New Information in UF Student Death
By Grayson Kamm
First Coast News
JACKSONVILLE, FL -- First Coast News has learned new information about how UF student Tom Brown died, whether the suspects are talking, and what role alcohol may have played in the murder.
The Jacksonville State Attorney's Office says 23-year-old Tom Brown died of massive head injuries.
Police found him barely alive in front of C.S.X. headquarters downtown Saturday night, hours after the Florida-Georgia game.
Prosecutors are still waiting on word from the Medical Examiner on whether Brown had been drinking, and whether anything else contributed to his death.
We've also learned, the five men arrested in the beating death have not offered to testify against each other.
The State Attorney's Office is meeting with police officers working the case, and will announce formal charges later this week.
First Coast News sat down with Angela Corey, the woman who will prosecute the case.
We asked questions about how Brown died, and what was taped by a C.S.X. surveillance camera.
She says we can expect the images from those security cameras to be key evidence.
Police say the tape is clear, and it shows five men cornering and beating University of Florida student Tom Brown to death.
Corey is one of a handful of people who have seen the video. She says, "It didn't take long -it was within a matter of - well, it was less than a few minutes - the whole incident."
But Corey says she can't say much more about the video. As evidence, it'll be kept from the public until formal charges are filed, or even longer.
"Discussing the details would be the same as releasing the tape, and at this point, wouldn't be appropriate," Corey said.
Corey says the tape captures the scene, but not the motive.
"Usually, fights are over drinking, other women, football. In this case, people wonder, 'Was this a Georgia-Florida thing?'... we don't have any of those obvious things in this case," she said.
The Medical Examiner's Office told us Tom Brown's autopsy is finished. But just like the public, Corey is waiting for the results.
"Generally, we take... an oral review from the Medical Examiner's report once they've determined a cause of death," she said.
She says the full report, which typically takes weeks, will show whether Brown had been drinking, and exactly how he died.
"[We] were aware that the victim probably died from blunt trauma to the head. And that's what the Medical Examiner determined as the basis for the probable cause for the arrest," Corey said.
Corey plans to announce the formal charges the five suspects will face by week's end.
"We gather all police reports, all information, interview our witnesses and our detectives before we make a filing decision, and then we go from there," she said.
Florida-Georgia weekend is nicknamed "the world's largest outdoor cocktail party."
And a party was going, with alcohol flowing just a block away from the murder scene, at the Jacksonville Landing.
Friends have told First Coast News it was that party that drew both the suspects and the victim downtown that night.
But Corey says alcohol may not have been a major factor in this murder.
One of the suspect's friends says he came to the Landing Saturday night to party and drink.
But a different picture comes from Corey, who was at the scene minutes after the murder.
She says when police put the five suspects in jail that night, they were not noticeably drunk.
"In this case, all of them were very coherent, were brought in standing. There was nothing to indicate a real problem there," Corey said.
She says police decided not to test the suspects' blood alcohol levels.
But some officers' reports are still sealed, and that's where they'd note any subtle signs of drinking.
"They would be trained, and they would have made those notes when they interviewed these suspects," Corey said.
Tom Brown, the victim, has a history with alcohol.
His record shows three arrests from Brevard County, the area around his hometown.
Two were for underage drinking, and one was for having a fake ID.
The Medical Examiner's Office says they've finished the autopsy on Brown, but have not released the results.
A full report, which typically takes weeks, should show whether Brown had been drinking Saturday night.
"A toxicology screen is done on all victims that are autopsied here," Corey explained.
But Corey says alcohol may not play a major role in the murder investigation, because being drunk is not a defense to the likely charge of second degree murder.
"Alcohol consumption may be relevant at some point, but it would not be the critical issue in the case," Corey said.
First Coast News talked with the staff at the Jacksonville Landing.
They say they have no way of knowing if any of the people involved in this case actually went there Saturday night.
After reviewing the weekend, the Landing's staff says it's one of the safest they've seen, and the number of arrests was down from previous years.
Brown's family, friends, and fraternity brothers will hold a memorial service Wednesday in his hometown of Merritt Island.
His funeral is planned for Thursday.
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