A large fight between two families broke out in the lobby of the Superior Court in Derby Thursday, after a court hearing for Rodney Lee Brown.
Brown was scheduled to be sentenced Thursday for a risk of injury charge in relation to the death of his 3‑month-old daughter last September — but the sentencing was continued until Sept. 16.
The mother of the baby, Kristi FitzGerald, and Brown’s relatives got into a shouting match outside the courtroom, threatening to hurt each other and requiring six court marshals to control the scene.
“Oh my God,” Brown’s aunt, Audrey Adside said, after court marshals broke up a shouting and pushing match.
“You’re going to wish you had God,” FitzGerald shouted after her, pushing past family members to approach Brown’s family members again.
It’s the second time marshals had to subdue FitzGerald following a court appearance. At Brown’s last court appearance, similar shouting broke out after Brown entered pleas for two of the charges he faces.
Tempers
FitzGerald says she’s just frustrated with lack of movement with the case and feels court officials aren’t listening to her concerns.
“They promised me I could talk in court today,” Kristi said. “They just brushed me off.”
Thursday’s fight appears to have started when FitzGerald tried to re-enter the courtroom after Brown’s court appearance.
Marshals had asked Brown to remain in the courtroom in an effort to prevent conflict.
FitzGerald loudly said “Excuse me” to one of Brown’s relatives who was standing by the door. Within seconds a fight broke out between the two.
Brown’s aunt, Adside, got involved, and FitzGerald’s mother tried to get in between the two.
At one point, marshals threatened to arrest FitzGerald if she didn’t calm down. No arrests were made.
After several minutes, the two sides parted, and marshals stood by each group to make sure they didn’t start up again.
“Don’t even talk about it,” one marshal told Brown’s family.
The Charges
Brown has pleaded no contest to the risk of injury charge — a felony — related to his daughter’s death.
Brown was charged on Sept. 11, 2009, after his daughter, Alayziah, was found dead while in his care.
A revised death certificate issued in November stated the baby’s cause of death as “sudden unexplained infant death.” The manner of death was listed as “undetermined.”
FitzGerald told the Valley Indy that she believed Brown was intoxicated and killed the baby by rolling over on her.
Brown has also pleaded no contest to a reckless endangerment charge stemming from a dispute he had with FitzGerald in front of the baby back in August 2009.
Prosecutors and Brown’s public defender have agreed to a cap on his sentence for the two charges at seven years, suspended after three years in prison, with four years probation.
But his actual sentence won’t be known until Sept. 16, when he faces Judge Burton Kaplan.
Brown faced a maximum of 10 years in prison for the risk of injury charge and a maximum of six years for reckless endangerment.
Brown is also facing charges stemming from a dispute at a Shelton gas station last summer, but has not yet entered a plea for those charges.
The Court Date
Thursday, Judge Karen Sequino continued Brown’s sentencing until September because he failed to respond to calls for a pre-sentencing investigation.
Paul Eschuk, Brown’s public defender, said Brown was in Florida at the time visiting his sick father. His probation officer tried reaching him multiple times, but didn’t get a response.
“He was very apologetic,” Eschuck said, explaining that the phone number was his father’s, who wasn’t home to get the messages. “He will stay here … and make sure he gets it done this time.”
Sequino ordered Brown to get written permission before leaving the state, and said he must check in each week with his probation officer.
“If we can’t get it done this way, sir, we’ll have to incarcerate you to get it done,” the judge said.
