Charles Alexander murder of Marquis Brown

Charles Alexander shot and killed Marquis Brown, 19, on the night of January 9, 1997, outside an apartment at 2817 S. Cumberland Street in Little Rock. Witnesses said Brown was running away when Alexander came around the corner and opened fire with a large-caliber pistol, shooting as many as nine times. Brown was struck in the back and died at the scene.

Prosecutors said Alexander believed Brown was David “Jamar” Dean, a man Alexander had been in conflict with weeks earlier. Brown and Dean were similar in size, and Brown was wearing Dean’s coat while getting into Dean’s car outside Dean’s girlfriend’s apartment, according to the state’s theory of the case.

In court, a prosecutor told jurors:

“Marquis Brown was running for his life. He was running for his life on the night of January 9, 1997, when that defendant right there came around from the side of the apartment at 2817 S Cumberland…”

Another statement to the jury emphasized the victim’s age and circumstances:

“A young man, 19, in high school, working, and he’s gone now. He was shot in the back running from a man who was shooting at somebody he shouldn’t have been shooting at.”
“He shot nine times at a guy who hadn’t done anything to him.”

The shooting followed a fight on December 29, 1996, at a basketball court at Petaway Park. Alexander and Dean exchanged words. According to police reports, Dean beat Alexander with a broomstick and stole Alexander’s car. A witness later told investigators she heard Alexander say he was going to “catch David Dean slipping” and would not let him get away with it.

On the night of the shooting, Dean was attending a party. Prosecutors said Alexander waited until he saw someone approach Dean’s Impala and reach inside before opening fire, mistakenly targeting Brown.

Alexander denied involvement when police arrested him the next day, claiming he had been at home. Four people initially supported his alibi. The state presented three eyewitnesses who identified Alexander as the shooter, though some later recanted or said they may have misidentified him. A hearing was held to determine whether a new trial was warranted. The court denied the request on January 4, 2000, and the Arkansas Supreme Court later affirmed that decision.

Before the murder, Alexander had pleaded guilty on June 27, 1997, to felony theft by receiving and first-degree terroristic threatening. He served 120 days in jail, paid a fine, and was on probation at the time of the homicide. Prosecutors charged him as a habitual offender in the Brown case.

A jury convicted Charles Alexander of first-degree murder. He received a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole and remains incarcerated at the East Arkansas Maximum Security Unit. He has had more than 70 disciplinary violations since 2016.