Eric Brown v. Steven J. O'brien

Eric Brown, now in state prison serving two life terms for first degree murder, was denied habeas corpus relief in the federal district court, Brown v. O’Brien, 755 F. Supp. 2d 335 (D. Mass. 2010), and now appeals. The factual background, recounted in detail in the state court decision upholding his convictions, Commonwealth v. Brown, 872 N.E.2d 711 (Mass. 2007), is readily summarized.

In the early morning of June 16, 1996, two men were shot at close range with a shotgun in Boston’s South End and both were killed. The day before the murders, Brown had accompanied his friend Dwight Bobbitt, a security guard who had the credentials to obtain firearms, to a Boston sporting goods store. After Brown supplied Bobbitt with money, Bobbitt purchased a shotgun selected by Brown, together with shells, and turned both the weapon and the ammunition over to Brown. Brown, 872 N.E.2d at 716-17. Bobbitt thereafter reported the shotgun as stolen, but later admitted he had purchased it for Brown. Id. at 716 n.15.