Joshua Jay Brown charged with murder

Ty Gaither, Cedar County Prosecuting Attorney, announced Friday the filing of a felony murder charge against Joshua Jay Brown for the Nov. 2, 2014, shooting death of William Collins. The felony murder complaint charges in three counts the death of William Collins resulting from the perpetration or immediate flight from the perpetration by Joshua Brown of the felonies of possession of a firearm, possession of a controlled substance and possession of burglary tools.   

The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and that the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

Cedar Count Prosecutor Ty Gaither told the Sun, “We charged him with felony murder in the death of Cedar County Deputy Matt Chism. The jury convicted him in 15 minutes. The judge set that verdict aside on motion and the Court of Appeals upheld it on a technicality. But we don’t believe there is a double jeopardy problem because we charged him with the murder of William Collins (the man who shot and killed Deputy Matt Chism and was killed by Deputy Chism).”

“We’ve already done our research on it and think it will stand up.”

The prosecutor said he has a child molestation case going to trial on Jan. 23 and the Keith murder case going to trial in February. Charles Shane Green is charged for that murder which left Brandon S. Keith laying in the street.

“I’ve got a trial every two or three weeks until April.