2nd Trial Set In 12-Year-Old Girl's Death Over Cell Phone
DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - A second trial is set to begin next week for a man accused of fatally shooting a 12-year-old Detroit girl during a dispute between the girl's mother and his mother over a cell phone.
Joshua Brown is charged with first-degree murder. A judge declared a mistrial in his case last year. Brown's latest trial was to get underway Wednesday, but court records say it's been pushed back to Monday.
Honor student Kade'jah Davis was killed Jan. 31, 2012, by shots fired through the door of her home.
Prosecutors say Brown accompanied his mother, Heather, to confront Kade'jah's mother over the disappearance of Heather Brown's cell phone.
Amanda Talton told the Detroit Free Press that Brown came to her home on Ferguson, near 7 Mile Road and the Southfield Freeway, believing she had the phone.
Talton said the misunderstanding arose after she went to a home-based tax business to discuss a refund she hadn't received. She was told an IRS mistake was to blame. While there, she said she found a cell phone in the restroom and handed it to one of the office workers.
When Joshua Brown arrived at her home, she thought he was there to discuss her refund, not to accuse her of taking the cell phone. Talton told him that she didn't have it and after a brief conversation, closed the door.
Moments later, shots were fired into the home, striking Kade'jah. The girl, a sixth grade honor roll student at University Yes Academy in Detroit, was taken to an area hospital where she died.
Police say Heather Brown drove her son away from the home after the shooting. The duo was arrested less than six hours later.
Heather Brown pleaded no contest in August 2012 to being an accessory after the fact for driving her son to the killing scene.
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