Mother Gets Probation in Attack on Daughter

A Lancaster judge Thursday sentenced Ava Casey Brown to five years probation for running her 16-year-old daughter off the road in a high-speed car chase, in line with an appeals court decision that threw out Brown’s original five- year prison term.

Brown, of Littlerock, was originally sent to state prison for assault with a deadly weapon and child endangerment, but was released eight months later by order of the state Court of Appeal.

In her ruling Thursday, Lancaster Superior Court Judge Margaret M. Grignon cited the appellate court’s decision, which questioned the appropriateness of the prison term imposed by former Lancaster Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Coen in 1987.

Brown, a nurse’s aide and Sunday school teacher, ran her daughter, Renee Casey, off the road in a car chase after Casey stayed out late without permission. Brown pursued Casey at speeds up to 80 m.p.h. and bumped her car at least twice, causing a crash in which Casey’s teen-age passenger suffered a broken collarbone.

Angry Debate

At Thursday’s sentencing hearing, which included angry debate over allegations of racism made by Brown and her supporters, Grignon said Brown’s lack of a criminal record and the spontaneous nature of the crime met legal criteria for unusual cases in which probation is appropriate.

“In light of the appellate opinion, the probation report . . . and in light of the fact that the defendant has spent time in state prison, I see no purpose in sending her back to state prison,” the judge said.

Grignon said Brown’s incarceration would severely disrupt the lives of her three other children. She ordered Brown to pay $100 in restitution to Arintha Anderson, the passenger injured in the car crash.

Brown, 37, wept outside the courtroom as she was congratulated by her fiance, Mark Alston, and friends from the predominantly black Sun Village neighborhood of Littlerock.

“It’s over with,” she said. “Thank you, Jesus. I’m going to sit down and write a book about my experience, and I’m going to plan my wedding.”

Immediate Release

This year, the appellate court upheld the conviction. The three-judge panel ruled that Judge Coen, who is now in San Fernando Superior Court, erred when he rejected a probation officer’s report urging that Brown get probation, declared Brown a danger to the community and set bail at $100,000. Criminal defense experts called the appellate court decision to release her immediately on her own recognizance extremely rare.

Brown and her supporters have alleged that she was the victim of harsh treatment by a white judge and jury because she is black.

Those accusations were criticized Thursday by Deputy Dist. Atty. Kent C. Cahill, who asked Grignon to impose a sentence of six years in state prison. Cahill pointed out that the appellate court had upheld the conviction, including a finding that Brown intended to commit great bodily harm.

He called Brown an unrepentant, “self-righteous” woman and said the unfounded claims of racism “cheapen and dilute valid cries of racism.”

“One of the most insidious forms of racism is when someone cries racism where none exists,” Cahill said. “A mother rammed or bumped her daughter’s car and forced it into a ditch. I don’t care what color she was, that’s outrageous conduct. The only racism I ever saw were the allegations of racism by Ava Brown and her supporters.”

Judge Praised

Brown and her supporters praised Grignon and repeated their criticism of Cahill and the original judge and jury, saying Brown would not have been treated as harshly if she were white.

“I would maintain that there were racist overtones,” said the Rev. Samuel Hooker, Antelope Valley NAACP chapter president. “Throughout the whole process, not just the sentencing. I hope the system would recognize that we would like to see justice. If you’re guilty, you do deserve punishment.”

Brown’s attorney, Leonard E. Chaitin, said the state appellate judges were the heroes of the case and praised Grignon for ignoring Cahill’s hyperbole.

Brown said she is not bitter about her imprisonment. Although she did not feel she belonged in prison with hardened criminals, she said, some of them were most helpful in urging her to write letters to the appellate court asking to be released.

“I learned a lot in prison,” she said. “I learned how to get along with people who really have a hard heart.”

Brown said her daughter, now 19, lives with relatives in Arizona and remains estranged from her.