Cop Killer Ordered Back to Death Row

A convicted cop killer who spent 16 years awaiting his execution before winning a new trial was ordered back to death row Friday.

Orange County Superior Court Judge John Ryan called the murder “cold-blooded” before he affirmed a jury’s recommendation that John George Brown, 53, be returned to death row for the 1980 slaying of a Garden Grove police officer.

Reed’s widow, Linda, and his sister, Suzanne Reed Schumacher, read statements before the sentencing.

Looking at the killer, who glanced back at her, Linda Reed said, “I know you have no remorse” for the shooting that took “my life and shredded it into pieces.”

Schumacher called Brown a “vile, disgusting man. You have shown you deserve the ultimate punishment. . . . Never once have I heard you utter one word of remorse.”

Brown’s attorney, Richard Schwartzberg, declined to comment after the sentencing. But the prosecution said the decision was just.

“The sentence was very appropriate,” said Assistant Dist. Atty. Bryan Brown, who handled the case. “It’s never pleasing to participate in executing someone. However, in this particular case, there’s no other alternative for Mr. Brown.”

Brown was first sent to death row in 1982, when a jury convicted him on charges stemming from a shootout at the Cripple Creek Saloon in Garden Grove. Police officers were trying to arrest Brown on outstanding drug and assault warrants when he opened fire, killing 27-year-old Donald Reed and wounding two other police officers and two bar patrons.

In a divided opinion, the state Supreme Court ruled in 1998 that Brown’s defense team should have had the opportunity to present evidence at trial indicating Brown might have been under the influence of PCP, a hallucinogenic drug, at the time.

Defense attorneys had argued that this could have helped the defendant show the murder was not premeditated.

The state Supreme Court ordered either a new trial or a reduced charge of second-degree murder, which would have made Brown eligible for parole.

The prosecution opted for retrial, and a second jury convicted Brown Feb. 1.