The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Local News

February 3, 2009

State Supreme Court denies Hinton woman’s appeal

The state Supreme Court last week refused a motion for an appeal filed by attorneys for a Summers County woman convicted of second-degree murder in December 2006.

Patricia Darlene Brown, 39, of Hinton, is serving 40 years in prison for the 2006 stabbing death of 71-year-old Ruby Parker.

During her trial, Brown’s attorneys argued it was actually Parker’s then-15-year-old granddaughter Miracle who had stabbed her grandmother as the three argued.

Prior to the petition to the state Supreme Court, Brown’s attorneys twice filed motions for a new trial in Summers County.

In the petition for appeal, Brown’s attorneys listed three reasons they believed their client was entitled to an appeal:

The prosecution failed to prove Brown acted with malice.

Summers County Circuit Court erred in admitting into evidence as a “dying declaration the hearsay statement” of Ruby Parker that “Patricia Brown stabbed me.”

Summers County Circuit Court erred in denying Brown’s second motion for a new trial based upon its “erroneous ruling” that the state’s failure to disclose that former Hinton Police Chief Thomas R. Peal Jr. was paid $873.85 for his testimony at the trial was “harmless.”

The Supreme Court motion was refused by a 4-1 vote.

— Michelle James

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