By Abigail Ronck
The lawyer for a teenager charged with stabbing her cousin to death more than 30 times will begin making his case today that although the defendant confessed to the murder, she was mentally unfit when she committed the crime.
Tiana Browne, 17, is accused of murdering 16-year-old Shannon Braithwaite in September 2008. The prosecution argues that the killing was intentional and motivated by jealousy. Yesterday in Brooklyn Supreme Court prosecutor Mark Hale called on Browne’s ex-boyfriend, Louie Walker, 15, who testified that on the night of the murder Browne arrived at his mother’s house wearing a pair of Coach designer sneakers, and carrying a T-Mobile Sidekick cell phone and a point-and-shoot camera, which the prosecution charges belonged to her murder victim.
Walker’s mother also took the stand yesterday, testifying that Browne was hysterical when she came to their house on the night of the murder. “She was crying,” she told the court. “She told me that some guy came in the house and stabbed her cousin up, gave her the knife and told her not to tell anyone or he was gonna kill her.”
Louie Walker said he had no reason to believe Browne was the killer at the time. “That’s why she was welcome to my house,” he said.
Both mother and son testified that Browne’s mood changed dramatically after she arrived at their home. Louie Walker said he was bothered by her growing calm. “Your cousin just died and now you’re cool?” he said. As he testified, Browne, her hair tightly wound atop her head, had her face down in her hand.
Hale also submitted a written letter that Browne sent to Louie Walker from prison in September 2009. In it, the defendant wrote of another girl, demanding in foul language that Louie Walker “tell that ugly b*tch” not to “f*ck with a ‘G’ like me.” Defense attorney Douglas Rankin asked that the letter not be allowed into evidence, arguing against the “prejudicial effect of the issue of teen slang,” saying it had no relevance to Browne’s state of mind. Judge Albert Tomei overruled the motion.
Today, Rankin will call to the stand a physician, who will testify as to Browne’s psychological condition at the time of the murder. Browne, who has been allegedly raped many times according to a defense claim from Monday, was a runaway adopted into the Braithwaite home. She lived there for only two days before the stabbing.
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