‘That’s when I shot him.’ Suspect charged in Columbus homicide testifies at hearing
A Columbus man admits killing his cousin’s boyfriend while the couple were staying at his Steam Mill Road home, but says he acted in self-defense.
Police counter they’ve found no evidence to back Michael Andrew Brown’s claim that Tayquann James was trying to attack Brown about 5 a.m. Monday in a bedroom at Brown’s home, where Brown shot him in the head and left shoulder.
James, who with Brown’s cousin was visiting from Paterson, N.J., was pronounced dead there at 5:59 a.m., authorities said. He was 36 years old.
Charged with murder and using a gun to commit a crime, Brown had a hearing Tuesday in Columbus Recorder’s Court, where he alleged James over the weekend had bragged of being a “high-ranking gang member” who threatened to take Brown’s property.
The first to testify in the half-hour hearing was Detective Robert Nicholas, who said James and Brown’s cousin arrived here Friday, planning to stay the weekend as they visited family. The couple spent Saturday in Macon, Georgia, where James’ brother lives, Nicholas said.
Brown and James’ girlfriend are first cousins, he said.
On Sunday night, James’ girlfriend cooked a big meal to thank Brown for his hospitality. They dined around 9 p.m. and went to bed about two hours later, leaving the food on the table, the detective said. Brown’s girlfriend, who lives with Brown in the house near Goodson Drive, also was there.
James’ girlfriend told police all seemed well until around 4:30 a.m. Monday, when Brown abruptly raised a ruckus, banging on bedroom doors and demanding they be unlocked, Nicholas said. She was so shocked that as she used an adjacent bathroom, she Googled local motels on her phone, and then started packing to leave, the officer said.
The girlfriend said she was standing in the bedroom as James got out of bed and jumped to pull his pants up, when Brown shot him, Nicholas testified.
The defense
Defense attorney William Kendrick asked the detective whether police were claiming Brown simply shot James “in cold blood,” with no provocation.
“There’s actually no evidence of anything other than that,” Nicholas answered.
He said Brown later told investigators he and his cousin had been “play-fighting” that night, and he feared for his safety when James got involved. But both Brown’s girlfriend and his cousin told police the trouble began when Brown started banging on bedroom doors, after everyone had gone to bed.
Testifying in his own defense, Brown said that his cousin and her boyfriend had an “attitude” toward him that worsened as the weekend went on. She did cook a big meal Sunday, but he ate little of it, and then she demanded he clean up the dishes, Brown said.
Later he went to take a shower, and had to go through his guests’ bedroom to reach the bathroom, so he knocked on their door, he said, adding his cousin responded, “You ain’t gonna’ keep knocking on the door around here.”
Nicholas said the house had other bathrooms Brown could have used.
Brown said that after he showered, he came out and saw his cousin was packing to leave, but her boyfriend was determined to stay. As his cousin went to the bathroom, Brown told James to get dressed and help put away the food that was left out, he said.
James refused, and threatened to beat him up, Brown testified: “He started to come off the bed, to come at me, and that’s when I shot him.”
‘Stand his ground’
Under Kendrick’s questioning, Brown said that earlier James had claimed to be in the Bloods street gang, in New Jersey, and had bragged of this to Brown’s son and nephews. He said he overheard James on the phone telling someone he’d found property here that was “sweet” and he aimed to take it.
Kendrick afterward argued that Brown under Georgia law was authorized to use deadly force to defend himself, his home and others, noting Brown was the one who called 911 to report the shooting, and gave police his gun when they arrived. Nicholas said the gun was a .45-caliber.
Once threatened with violence in his home, Brown under the law could “stand his ground” in self-defense, Kendrick said: “Mr. Brown doesn’t have to say, ‘OK, I’m sorry that you’re upset at me’ in his own home. He doesn’t have to retreat to a bathroom and call 911, or retreat to a back room and call 911. He can stand his ground, most certainly, in his home.”
Prosecutor Nicholas Hud said Brown may make his self-defense argument to a Superior Court jury, if he goes to trial, but Recorder’s Court Judge Julius Hunter need only decide the evidence is sufficient to show “probable cause” that Brown committed a crime.
Hunter agreed, ordering that Brown, 35, be held without bond as the case proceeds, and that he have no contact with his cousin or with James’ family.
This story was originally published February 2, 2021 at 1:55 PM.