Closing arguments set to begin for Desert Hot Springs man accused of attempted murder
Closing arguments were scheduled 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 had 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 a car parked car in Brown’s driveway in the 16000 block of Avenida Ramada.
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.
