A jury on Wednesday heard evidence against state Sen. Darius Brown, the Democratic legislator from Wilmington charged with misdemeanor offensive touching and disorderly conduct.
In opening statements to a jury of 12, prosecutors said Brown “punched” his accuser, and threw a glass of water near her in a jealous rage while they dined at Taverna Rustic Italian Restaurant in Talleyville last May.
“People get jealous, it is only natural and jealousy can lead to anger,” said Deputy Attorney General Joseph Grubb. “But when anger leads to violence, it is not only unacceptable, it is illegal.”
Brown, who was elected to his Delaware Senate seat in 2018, has pleaded not guilty to the charges and sat quietly during the first day of trial. He declined to comment for this story and will not testify during the proceeding.
Prosecutors and witnesses were instructed to address him without the title of “senator” while in the presence of the jury as to not bias them.
In opening statements, Bill Rhodunda, Brown’s attorney, told the jury the allegations against his client are a “physical impossibility.”
“There is always two sides of the story,” Rhodunda said.
The evidence against Brown includes no witnesses that saw him strike the woman, no video that captured such an incident and appears to rest largely on how the jury perceives the credibility of his accuser.
The woman took the stand on Wednesday, stating that she had an on-again-off-again relationship with Brown going back more than a decade. On a Sunday in May, she said Brown called her to counsel a young couple at his church.
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Afterward, Brown and the woman settled into a two-to-three hour meal at the restaurant off U.S. 202. The woman said the conversation was pleasant until the focus shifted to social media and a post involving her and a man.
She told the jury she sensed the conversation turning and said she told Brown she was not going to discuss the social media posts. This prompted him to indicate he was going to leave and rise from his seat in the booth across from her.
Brown then stood up, came to her side of the booth and said something along the lines of “you think it is a game or joke or funny,” the woman told the jury.
“From there, he hit me in my head and next thing I know I’m like ‘what just happened’ and a drink is coming for me,” she told the jury.
She described the blow to her head by raising a closed fist to the side of her head and pushing it.
“My head kind of went to the side,” she said.
The drink hit the table, sending liquid and glass onto her, she said. She said she was shocked and in disbelief.
“I started to cry. I was upset, ashamed, embarrassed,” she said. “I was trying to figure out what just happened.”
Brown left the restaurant without her.
There were no physical injuries, she said. There does not have to be for Brown to be found guilty.
He is charged with offensive touching, which is when a person touches someone physically or with some instrument in a way they know will cause offense or alarm to the person being touched.
In his cross-examination, Rhodunda, Brown’s attorney, seized on the woman’s prior statements to investigators.
He questioned her prior estimate that the booth bench was six feet long and that she was sitting at the far end from where Brown was standing during the alleged strike.
He then demonstrated that he is the same height as Brown, marked off six feet on a table and then spread himself across it demonstrating he could not reach that far while asking the woman how it would be possible for Brown to do so.
During her trial testimony, she said she was sitting near the middle of the booth bench when the strike occurred.
The only video introduced shows Brown rising from the table, moving to her side and seemingly leaning over the table, but it does not show the victim. The alleged strike would have been just off frame.
To bolster their case, prosecutors called witnesses from the restaurant. Each said they turned when they heard a glass shatter and watched Brown make a direct exit from the restaurant. None saw the alleged blow.
Rhodunda again seized on prior statements made by those witnesses to police. One employee told investigators the day of the incident he saw Brown strike the woman. He later told police he didn’t see that and only saw the aftermath.
“My client was arrested because of what he said,” Rhodunda told the jury.
BACKGROUND: Sen. Darius Brown’s criminal trial starts Wednesday after misdemeanor arrest in May
Prosecutors also introduced a receipt showing that Brown had purchased a bouquet of a dozen white roses that were delivered to the woman the day after their dinner.
The roses came with a card that was unsigned with the message “I love you 50-11 times.” The numerical slang means repeating something over and over. Prosecutors described Brown’s use of the term as a joke between the two. The woman said she used the phrase frequently.
In pretrial arguments, Rhodunda said the flowers and letter were inconsequential to the moment that comprises the criminal charges and that Brown had bought her gifts previously, a claim she would later deny.
Prosecutors said the flowers showed a guilty conscious and the judge allowed the evidence to be heard by the jury.
Rhodunda and prosecutors will address the jury in closing statements on Thursday morning before jurors begin deliberating the two charges against Brown. Both misdemeanors carry a maximum penalty of 30 days incarceration.
If found guilty, Brown would not automatically lose his position as a senator.
Gov. John Carney could potentially exercise constitutional power to remove him. The governor can remove any official who is “convicted of misbehavior in office or of any infamous crime,” though Carney would not be required to do so.
The Senate plans to conduct its first ethics inquiry in 35 years into Brown’s behavior.
Criminal charges don’t automatically spur ethics investigations. It’s unclear if there are other allegations within the statehouse that have not been publicized because of privacy laws that apply to legislators.
Senate leaders say they won’t consider tangible action against Brown until his criminal case is adjudicated.
Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@delawareon
