No Evidence of Crime Found in Death of Brown

Responding to questions from several black leaders, the Justice Department said Thursday that it has found no evidence of any crime in connection with Commerce Secretary Ronald H. Brown’s death.

An Air Force pathologist’s statement that a circular wound on Brown’s head resembled a gunshot injury, based on photos and X-rays, has raised concerns among some black leaders.

Bert Brandenburg, the chief Justice Department spokesman, said that in the last month the agency has reviewed with defense officials the information obtained by military pathologists after Brown and 34 others died in the April 1996 crash of a U.S. military plane in Croatia.

Officials have found no evidence of a crime “at this time,” Brandenburg said. He stressed that the review was done as a consultation with Defense Department officials and was not an independent Justice Department investigation.

Atty. Gen. Janet Reno said at her weekly news conference that the department is not currently looking into the Brown case. She added, “If there is credible information developed that a crime has been committed, then we will pursue it immediately.”

Some black leaders--including Rev. Jesse Jackson, NAACP President Kweisi Mfume and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus--have urged further investigation.

Spokesmen for both Waters and Jackson said neither would comment Thursday. Mfume was on vacation.

The military is standing by its finding that Brown died of crash injuries.

“There was a depressed skull injury,” said Christopher Kelly, a spokesman for the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. Kelly said a gunshot wound “would show extensive fragmentation, powder residue and marginal abrasions.”

It was a type of injury that is not uncommon in airplane crashes, Kelly said.