SACRAMENTO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger yesterday (Sept. 29) issued the following statement after the California Supreme Court issued an order preventing the state from carrying out the scheduled execution of Albert Greenwood Brown Jr. today:
“Albert Brown was sentenced to death for committing the most heinous and unconscionable crimes. He was convicted and sentenced to death by a jury of his peers, and now 30 years later the state is still unable to carry out his execution. It is absurd that our legal system continues to prevent the state from carrying out the will of the people.”
Albert Greenwood Brown Jr. was convicted of the 1980 rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl in Riverside County. On October 28, 1980, Brown dressed in jogging clothes waylaid, raped and strangled the girl to death with her own shoe lace as she was on her way to school. Later that evening, Brown anonymously called the girl’s home and spoke with her mother declaring, “You will never see your daughter again.” A California jury sentenced Brown to death for the murder.
Brown was also previously convicted of raping a 14-year-old girl in 1977 after breaking into her home and hiding in a closet.
Brown’s execution was scheduled for 9 p.m. on September 30, 2010. Once the court challenges are resolved, Brown’s execution will be rescheduled.
Also today, the Governor denied the clemency request of Albert Greenwood Brown Jr. To read the Governor’s statement of decision click here: gov.ca.gov/pdf/press/brown_clemency_request.pdf .
