14 Years Later, and Cop Killer’s Still in Court

A huge old structure, faded red, stands along Garden Grove Boulevard just east of Beach Boulevard, run down and long abandoned. It was built to resemble a hay barn, even down to the crossed-board shutters in the loft. It once housed the Cripple Creek Saloon, Garden Grove’s rowdiest nightclub.

I go by there frequently, and each time, I think back to that balmy night in June 1980, when the Cripple Creek was the scene of one of the county’s most sensational murders. It was the same kind of senseless killing of a police officer as last Saturday’s fatal shooting of California Highway Patrol Officer Don Burt in Fullerton.

John George Brown, then 32, a fat, grungy-looking biker with a scraggly beard and ponytail, was inside having a drink. The police recognized his motorcycle in the parking lot and knew he was wanted on outstanding warrants, for failing to make court appearances on an assault case, plus a marijuana sales charge. (His rap sheet showed he’d also once tried to kill a cop in Florida.)

With backup help, the officers went in to arrest him. Brown--going by the name Gordon Lee Mink--at first gave no indication he wouldn’t leave the bar peacefully. But as the small entourage headed toward the door, Brown suddenly broke free of the officers, pulled a gun from inside his outlaw biker jacket and opened fire. He killed police Officer Donald Reed, 27, and wounded two reserve officers, plus two bar patrons.

In 1982, Brown was tried and convicted, and his jury returned a verdict setting his penalty at death. So how far has Brown’s case gone since the late Superior Court Judge Kenneth Lae sentenced him to death 14 years ago?

One floor.

Brown was sent to San Quentin’s Death Row out of Department 40 (on the 10th floor) at the County Courthouse in Santa Ana on June 11, 1982. This week, Brown has been sitting in Department 45 (on the 11th floor), where his case has been before Superior Court Judge Daniel J. Didier.

Brown has had quite a ride through the appellate system, and he’s still got a long way to go. For years, his appeal went nowhere, creeping along so slowly that the courts finally found his appellate attorney in contempt. A later attorney quit because he and Brown could not get along. Since 1990, Brown has been represented by Donald Etra of Los Angeles.

Brown’s conviction was first upheld by the state Supreme Court in 1988. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to set aside his verdict in 1989. Some people think once the Supremes in Washington turn you down, you’re finished. Not John George Brown. His appeal has kept bobbing along like one of those beach balls in the crowd at an Angel baseball game.

Etra is convinced he’s finally got a strong issue: He claims test results showing that Brown could have been under the influence of the drug PCP when he shot Reed and the others were not turned over to the defense as required by law. The prosecution claims it’s a bogus issue, that it was turned over, but that it’s a meaningless document anyway. (The original test, prosecutors say, only shows he could have had anything from cough syrup to PCP in his system. A more specific test ruled out PCP, as well as any other drugs.)

Interestingly, at his trial, defendant Brown never mentioned taking PCP. He claimed amphetamines he had been taking prevented him from remembering that he’d shot five people. (Brown’s trial was the first death penalty case I ever covered. Over the years, I discovered that most defendants caught in a shooting have the same defense: They don’t deny they did it, they just don’t remember it.)

Whichever way the current issue goes, the Brown case appears to have many years left in the system. It will go back to the state Supreme Court for this issue, then back to U.S. District Court for new rounds.

Wednesday, I walked into Didier’s courtroom and saw John George Brown for the first time in 14 years. Deputy Dist. Atty. Bryan Brown, who had prosecuted the biker 14 years ago, was back too, once again questioning the current witness. Because I had covered the original trial, the prosecutor said to me during a break in the testimony: “Deja vu.”

Indeed, the defendant looked much the same, his beard and ponytail even longer than before, though much grayer now. Bryan Brown’s hair was grayer too (as was mine), but somehow 14 years seemed like just a short time.

The viewing section of Didier’s courtroom was empty but for one spectator, John George Brown’s daughter, Pamela Brown. She couldn’t have been more than a toddler when her father was first sentenced to death. I admire her determination to be there for her father, no matter what he’s done. She declined to talk to me, but was polite about it.

I’m not sure the family of the slain police officer even knew the hearing was going on. Reed had left a wife, two children and both his parents. A few years ago, the family had sent word to me through the district attorney’s office they would prefer not to discuss Reed’s killer’s appeal. Respecting those wishes, I didn’t contact them about this week’s hearing.

But you have to know that not having this appeal resolved for so many years is an added burden for them. Only one other Orange County killer, William Payton, who killed a Garden Grove woman in her sleep, has been on Death Row longer than John George Brown.

Countdown: Prosecutor Bryan Brown was an official witness at the execution of serial killer William G. Bonin at San Quentin last Feb. 23. It’s going to be awhile before he witnesses another one. He’s been successful in winning death verdicts against three others besides Bonin and Brown: William Taylor, Teofilo Medina and serial killer Randy Kraft. None appears to be within five years of execution.

Wrap-Up: Walking through the Plaza of the Flags in the shadows of the courthouse, I stopped at the county’s poignant memorial for slain police officers. Among its tiles are 38 engraved plaques representing the police officers killed in the line of duty since the county was formed. Donald Reed’s is among them. The last is for Newport Beach police Officer Bob Henry, killed last year. The 39th will be for CHP Officer Don Burt. If Burt’s killer receives a death penalty, we can only hope, for his family’s sake, the case doesn’t wind up back where it started 14 years later.

Jerry Hicks’ column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers may reach Hicks by call-ing the Times Orange County Edition at (714) 966-7823 or by fax to (714) 966-7711, or e-mail tojerry.hicks@latimes.com