Insanity Defense for Man Accused of Killing Father

Dail W. Brown Jr. believed that a "far-flung syndicate" of government and private power brokers had infiltrated society, his lawyer said yesterday. When he discovered that his father, Dail W. Brown Sr., played a role in this evil syndicate, the son confronted his father, tumbled down some stairs with him and accidentally killed him at their Vienna home.

Actually, the elder Brown was a respected marine biologist for the National Marine Fisheries Services, and he was shot twice in the face. His son then decapitated him, amputated his limbs and otherwise mutilated the body so it could be moved out of the basement, the son's lawyer said. The son then cleaned up the horrific mess before his mother and sister arrived home.

In telling Brown's side of the story for the first time yesterday, at the opening of his trial in Fairfax County Circuit Court, his lawyers began making the case that he should be found not guilty by reason of insanity in the September 2006 slaying.

Fairfax prosecutors want to convict Brown of first-degree murder. Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Casey M. Lingan said the killing was "one of the most brutal and heinous homicide scenes Fairfax County has ever seen." Detectives found the victim in the trunk of his son's car a day after the shooting.

Brown, now 38, drove to Columbus, Ohio, after the killing, because his father was originally from there, attorney James W. Hundley said in his opening statement, and that is where he was arrested two days after the body was found. He has been in custody since, being treated for mental illness and then restored to competency to stand trial last fall.

The victim, who was 64, had a doctorate in biological oceanography and was an expert in coastal and coral reef preservation. He headed the fisheries services' ecosystem assistance division until his retirement in August 2006, a month before he was killed.

After the retirement, tensions increased at home over the son's unemployment. Hundley said Brown's mental illness, described as "severe paranoid schizophrenia," prevented him from working. "It went completely untreated, nobody had taken any steps to treat it," Hundley said.

Brown's family began to notice his deterioration about 1996, Hundley said, and by 2002 he had stopped working, becoming "very withdrawn, sullen, paranoid." Brown was shot by police in Arizona in 2002, and apparently believed the syndicate was responsible.

Brown's version of various events was related to Anita Boss, a forensic psychologist who examined Brown to determine whether he was sane at the time of the killing, Hundley said. Boss is expected to testify this week.

Father and son were barely speaking to each other by fall 2006, Lingan said. The elder Brown had a post-polio degenerative condition, used a brace and a cane and endured chronic pain.

"Dail Brown Jr. believed his father's job was just a front," Hundley said, and that his real job was "to secretly get rid of government agents whose usefulness no longer existed." So the son confronted his father, leading to the alleged tumble down the stairs. Brown told Boss about the confrontation long after his arrest, Hundley said.

Lingan noted that after Brown dismembered his father and cleaned up, he wrote a note, purportedly from the elder Brown, to his mother. It said that he had flown to Seattle for a job opportunity. But the elder Brown had not taken his cellphone, briefcase or luggage, or mentioned the trip before, Lingan said.

Brown's mother, Patti Brown, came home that afternoon, found the note, saw her husband's car missing and called police. His dismembered body, in plastic bags, was discovered the next afternoon.