Desert Hot Springs man convicted of attempted voluntary manslaughter
Sentencing is scheduled for June 9 for a Desert Hot Springs man convicted of attempted voluntary manslaughter in the shooting of a homeless friend.
Eric Deshon Brown, 36, was found guilty Tuesday of attempted manslaughter and assault with a firearm after jurors deliberated for less than a day. He was acquitted of attempted murder, mayhem and shooting at an
inhabited vehicle.
Brown was charged with 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. Brown was previously tried last year for the shooting, when jurors were unable 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.
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, 2015, Brown allegedly woke Jones up about 6:45 a.m., opened the car door and immediately shot him in the arm.
Prosecutors alleged 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 sheriff’s Palm Desert Station and surrendered on the night of May 6, 2015.
