Jury selection begins in retrial for man accused of shooting homeless friend

Jury selection began today in the retrial of a Desert Hot Springs man charged with attempted murder and other felonies in the shooting of a homeless friend who’d been allowed to sleep in the defendant’s car.

Eric Deshon Brown, 36, is also charged with mayhem, shooting at an inhabited vehicle and assault for the April 3, 2015, shooting of Eric Jones, a high school friend who had been sleeping in his parked car in Brown’s driveway in the 16000 block of Avenida Ramada.

He’s being held at the Larson Justice Center in Indio on felony charges of mayhem, assault with a deadly weapon, shooting at an inhabited building, attempted murder with malice, and obstructing/resisting arrest, according to jail records.

Jurors last year did not reach a unanimous verdict on any of the four counts, including an 8-4 deadlock in favor of acquittal on the attempted murder charge.

Jones, who suffered gunshot wounds to an arm, leg and hand, and a graze wound to the forehead, testified in the first trial that he had made an arrangement with Brown to sleep in the defendant’s Lincoln Continental, an
agreement that angered Brown’s mother.

“His mom said that I couldn’t stay there,” Jones testified, saying that she had approached him once or twice regarding the matter. Brown initially told him it was all right to stay, as long as he came late and left early,
Jones said.

However on April 3, Brown allegedly woke Jones up about 6:45 a.m., opened the car door and immediately shot him in the arm. Prosecutors allege that after the first shot, Jones stumbled out of the car and was shot in the leg by Brown before being forced at gunpoint to get to the house, where he eventually collapsed in the front doorway, losing consciousness briefly.

Jones testified that he then tried to run toward the street, where he again collapsed, and was discovered by neighbors who called police. Witnesses said the shooter ran into a home in the 16200 block of Avenida Ramada, prompting a sheriff’s SWAT team search of the residence, but the suspect got away.

Brown was on the run for more than a month before he walked into the Palm Desert sheriff’s station and surrendered on the night of May 6, 2015.

Brown’s trial attorney, Bosky Kathuria, alleged it was actually Jones who initially drew the gun, a .38-caliber Smith & Wesson, and that Brown wrestled the weapon from Jones and shot him to protect himself and his mother.

Kathuria said Jones was drunk, angered over being told to leave and threatened to kill Brown and his mother if he was forced to go. Kathuria also argued that multiple shots at point-blank range indicated that his client did not want to kill Jones, an act which could have been easily accomplished with one shot.

“He didn’t want to kill his friend. He wanted to stop his friend from killing him and from killing his mother,” Kathuria said.

Jones denied threatening Brown or his mother with the gun, saying he had never seen the weapon before.