Mentally Ill Fairfax Man Gets Life in Father's Slaying

A mentally ill Fairfax County man who killed and dismembered his father in their Vienna home in 2006 was sentenced to life in prison Friday, although the judge suggested that he be considered for parole in 22 years if his mental illness is controlled.

Attorneys for Dail W. Brown Jr., 38, tried to convince a jury that he was legally insane when he shot his 68-year-old father, Dail W. Brown Sr., twice in the face after tumbling down some basement steps with him. The elder Brown was a widely respected, recently retired marine biologist for the National Marine Fisheries Services whose mobility was limited by a post-polio degenerative condition.

For years, the younger Brown had been unable to hold a job because of his severe delusions, and prosecutors said his unemployment created tension between the father and son. Until his arrest, Dail Brown Jr.'s mental illness had never been treated.

At his trial in July, Brown testified that he thought his father was part of a "far-flung syndicate" of shadowy power brokers in and out of government and that his father was involved in the secret imprisonment of young women. Brown said that an argument with his father on Sept. 26, 2006, resulted in them falling down the basement stairs, accidentally killing Dail Brown Sr.

In truth, Dail Brown Sr. had been shot in the mouth and eye at close range, a medical examiner testified. The son said that he mutilated and chopped his father into pieces, placing the remains in trash bags that were hidden in the trunk of a family car, followed by extensive cleaning of the crime scene. Brown then wrote a note, purporting to be from his father, saying that the father had left suddenly for a business trip to Seattle. The son then fled to Columbus, Ohio, where he was captured several days later.

His attorneys, James W. Hundley and Steven D. Briglia, told the jury that Brown met Virginia's definition of legally insane in 2006: unable to understand the consequences of his actions and unable to distinguish between right and wrong. Prosecutors said that Brown's actions after the killing -- disposing of his father's body, cleaning up, leaving a forged note and fleeing the state -- were indicators of premeditation and sanity.

The jury convicted Brown of first-degree murder and recommended a life sentence. Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Stanley P. Klein could have reduced that sentence, and Hundley -- and Brown's family -- pleaded for him to do so.

Patti Brown, the victim's wife and the killer's mother, wrote to the judge, "In the Bible, God says we should forgive. I have gotten to that state of my grievance. . . . His father, the real victim in this case, would not have wanted his son to have life in prison. . . . Judge Klein, let us have the hope and peace that someday we will be able to hug our son and brother. And to become a family again."

Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney John Murphy said Brown "was well aware of the impact of his actions" and urged the judge to impose the life sentence for a "brutal murder committed for no justifiable reason."

Klein asked the prosecutor, "How does mental illness fit into this? . . . How do I factor that in at all? Or do I just ignore the significant mental illness that everyone agrees existed in this case?"

Murphy said Klein was obligated to protect society "to ensure that no other innocent person meets the fate that his father met."

Hundley acknowledged "some of the most gruesome crime-scene evidence imaginable" at the Browns' longtime home on Carrhill Road but said the jury's verdict and sentence conveyed nothing but hopelessness for the mentally ill.

Brown, clutching a prayer book, told the judge, "I need the court to observe a moment of silence out of respect for those that have died." He then read the Lord's Prayer, amending one of the final lines to "And deliver us from the evil one." He added, "May God bless you all" and said no more.

Klein said that fashioning a sentence was difficult in light of Brown's mental illness but that his foremost responsibility was to the community. The judge imposed the life term but said that if Brown remained on medication and kept his illness under control, the state should consider him for geriatric parole, available to all prisoners who are 60 and have served 10 years.