Alcoholic Blount County deputy Danny Brewer under arrest for shooting his nude wife, Jennifer L. Brewer, after the drunken ex-deputy spent a night fucking his bail bondsman. Deputy Brewer cost taxpayers a $5-million settlement after he murdered driver Jennifer Lowe Bean. Any relation to alleged alcoholic cokehead judge Brewer?
Homicide case against ex-Blount deputy sent to grand jury
By Lance Coleman
Knoxville News Sentinel
December 14, 2011
MARYVILLE, TENN. — The criminal homicide case against former Blount County sheriff's deputy Danny Brewer was bound over to a grand jury on Wednesday.
His $950,000 bond was kept in place.
General Sessions Judge Robert Gallegos ruled probable cause had been proven by Shari Taylor, assistant district attorney, that Brewer had killed his wife with a shotgun blast.
Defense attorney Tommy Hindman said the shooting was an accident.
Testimony from Blount County Sheriff's Office Detective J.T. Trentham that Brewer admitted to having an affair would not change his client's defense.
"It doesn't change our theory that what happened in that room is the only thing that matters," Hindman said.
Trentham was the only witness to testify in the hearing. He said Blount 911 emergency dispatchers were contacted at 11:19 a.m. on Sept. 8 about the shooting at Brewer's Sevier Avenue apartment in Blount County.
"When I got there, Mr. Brewer was in the front living room in a fetal position covered in blood," the detective said. "He was making a statement, 'It was an accident. The safety was on, it should not have happened."'
Trentham testified he then went back to the bedroom, where medical personnel were with Jennifer Brewer.
"There was a woman in bed totally nude with a shotgun wound to the chest, and there was blood on the bedding," he said.
A short time later, Brewer was interviewed by Trentham at the Blount County Sheriff's Office. The detective said during Wednesday's hearing that Brewer smelled of alcohol and told him he'd drank three or four beers.
"He was very distraught over the situation but he was coherent," Trentham said.
The detective said Brewer stated he had come home from work at 4:30 or 5 a.m. on Sept. 8, and his wife got up later to take their 3-year-old child to day care and returned home.
"She got back in bed. At some point there was sexual intercourse, then he got up to show her the shotgun he had purchased, and while this was going on, the shotgun discharged," Trentham testified.
In the middle of the interview, Trentham said he was notified Jennifer Brewer had died, and that was when Brewer admitted he had been with Pam Gregory, a bail bondswoman.
"He said this was the person he was with until 4:30 or 5 a.m., that he was employed by her as a bounty hunter and that they had been having a 10-year love affair," Trentham testified.
Hindman asked Trentham about the state's toxicology report that showed Danny Brewer had a blood-alcohol level of 0.23 when he was interviewed. The legal definition of intoxication in drunk-driving cases is .08. Hindman asked the detective if he would've acted differently had he known how intoxicated Brewer was during the interview.
"I would have probably not (interviewed him) had I had the toxicology report in front of me," Trentham said.
Grand jury gets homicide case
By Austin Baird
Maryville Daily Times
A former Blount County law enforcement officer is a step closer to facing trial in the shooting death of his wife.
Danny Ray Brewer, 37, a former Blount County Sheriff’s Office deputy and Rockford police officer, had a preliminary hearing on criminal homicide charges Wednesday in Blount County General Sessions Court.
After hearing testimony, Judge Michael Gallegos sent the case to a grand jury to decide if the charges brought against Brewer warrant a trial.
The case will likely be heard on Jan. 9 or Feb. 16 when a grand jury convenes, though the date will depend upon the crowd of other cases working through the state’s docket.
The events surrounding the death of 29-year-old Jennifer Brewer on Sept. 8 remain unclear. However, Assistant District Attorney Shari Tayloe and Danny Brewer’s defense attorney, Tommy Hindman, each revealed information that could eventually decide the outcome of the case.
Detective testifies
Blount County Sheriff’s Office Detectives James Trentham and David Henderson are leading the investigation, the former being the first detective to arrive on the scene and the latter the detective who collected physical evidence for the case. The state called Trentham as its only witness at the hearing Wednesday.
Trentham, a detective of 10 years and an 18-year member of the Sheriff’s Office, testified that a couple of patrol officers and emergency responders were already on the scene when he arrived shortly before noon the day Jennifer Brewer died in the Maryville apartment she shared with her husband on Sevierville Road.
“I saw Mr. Brewer in the living room nude and covered in blood, curled up in the fetal position,” Trentham said at the hearing. “He was making statements like, ‘It was an accident, the safety was on, it shouldn’t have gone off.’”
When Trentham arrived, Jennifer Brewer was naked in their bed with a wound on the left side of her chest that was inflicted by a shotgun, he said. A couple of paramedics were attempting to save her, but she was declared dead that day at Blount Memorial Hospital.
Despite Danny Brewer’s claim that his wife’s death was an accident that happened when he was showing her a gun, Trentham testified the evidence doesn’t suggest an accidental shooting.
“My professional opinion is, yes, you have to take the totality of the case ... and there is information to conflict his story,” Trentham said.
High alcohol level
Two points of contention were raised: the amount of alcohol in Danny Brewer’s system and a purported decade-long affair between Brewer and his boss.
Trentham described Danny Brewer as “very distraught over the situation but coherent,” though he said he did smell alcohol on Brewer during an interview that took place the day of the shooting. He testified that Brewer admitted to having “three or four” drinks during that interview.
However, a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation toxicology report measured Brewer’s blood alcohol content at 0.23. The legal limit to operate a vehicle in Tennessee is .08.
Trentham testified the blood sample was drawn by a jail nurse during a break in the interview nearly an hour after police were dispatched.
Hindman tried to stress the fact that Brewer was intoxicated during the interview.
“By no means was he crawling, stumbling or anything like that,” Trentham said of Brewer’s sobriety. But he conceded, when pressed by Hindman, that the interview probably should have waited until Brewer was of clearer mind. “I would have probably waited if I knew his (blood alcohol content).”
Even though Gallegos left open the possibility of a criminal homicide charge, he declined to set the level of the crime (first-degree murder, manslaughter, etc.) that Brewer will face. Gallegos instead deferred that responsibility to the grand jury.
“We want to get in front of the grand jury as soon as possible,” Hindman said. “After all of the facts come forward, the picture will become clearer.”
Until then, Brewer will remain in custody at Blount County Jail unless he can come up with enough cash to make the $950,000 bond required for his temporary release.
See also:
11-09-2011 - Former deputy charged in fatal shooting remains in custody
09-30-2011 - Preliminary hearing set in former deputy homicide case
Slaying suspect Brewer gets public defender
09-23-2011 - Garner appointed to represent Brewer in criminal homicide case
09-20-2011 - Hospital stay delays preliminary hearing for murder suspect
09-10-2011 - Husband charged in Thursday’s shooting death
09-12-2011 - Homicide suspect was police officer involved in fatal crash
Blount County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded Thursday morning to the Sevier Avenue apartment complex where the couple lived in reference to a shooting. There they found 29-year-old Jennifer L. Brewer lying face up on a bed in the apartment at 11:19 a.m., according to a Sheriff’s Office report. The victim was bleeding from the left side of her chest.
Danny Brewer was also found in the apartment, naked, screaming and covered in blood. The report stated that deputies escorted the suspect from the room and recovered the gun believed to have been used in the shooting.
Danny Brewer was serving as a Rockford police officer on May 16, 2000, when he was involved in an accident that killed Jennifer Lowe Bean, 29, of Jackson Hills Drive, Maryville, according to a May 18, 2000, story in The Daily Times.
Brewer had been a Rockford officer for only two weeks after two years as a Blount County Sheriff’s Department deputy when he was on patrol in Rockford the night of May 16, 2000. At 9:10 p.m. he reportedly heard former co-worker Deputy Jim Stegall respond to a disturbance involving two men with knives at Meadow Valley Apartments on Wildwood Road near the Maryville city limits.
Brewer contacted Rockford Police Chief Robert Simerly from his location on Old Knoxville Highway between Four Corners Market and Pope’s Garden Center. Simerly told him to respond to back up the county officer in accordance with Rockford’s mutual aid agreement to assist other local law enforcement agencies.
According to the report, Brewer turned on his flashing red and blue lights, activated his siren, and started up Old Knoxville Highway toward Meadow Valley Apartments to back up Stegall. Meanwhile, Bean was traveling the same direction on Old Knoxville Highway.
Brewer apparently sped up on the straight stretch of highway after he rounded the curve at Williams Mill Road and Liscom Drive. A witness to the fatal collision said she pulled over to the right near Clayton Road to let the cruiser pass.
Ahead of her, she saw another car that was not pulling over. Bean was preparing to turn left off the highway onto Jackson Hills Drive. She was only four blocks from home.
According to the preliminary accident report, Brewer moved into the oncoming traffic lane, which was clear of vehicles, to pass the Bean car. The cruiser was never directly behind Bean’s Honda Accord as Brewer traveled in excess of the posted 45 mile per hour speed limit.
At some point, Bean activated her left turn signal. Then, she turned across the lane where Brewer was traveling, apparently unaware of his lights or siren.
Brewer braked as Bean turned left into his path and the front of his Jeep slammed into the driver’s side of Bean’s car.
The impact sent the Honda sliding several feet beyond the intersection, across a shallow roadside ditch and into a yard. The Rockford cruiser went over the curb at the end of Jackson Hills Drive and nosed down into the ditch.
Emergency responders attempted to resuscitate Bean but were unable to restore her heartbeat or breathing. She was pronounced dead on arrival at Blount Memorial Hospital.
Brewer was taken by Rural/Metro Ambulance Service to Blount Memorial Hospital, where he was treated for broken bones and other injuries.
Blount County slaying suspect is former police officer, deputy
By Hayes Hickman, Natalie Neysa Alund
Knoxville News Sentinel
September 12, 2011
A 37-year-old Blount County man charged in the shooting death of his wife last week is a former law enforcement officer, authorities said Monday.
Danny Ray Brewer, who is being held at the Blount County jail in lieu of $950,000 bond on a criminal homicide charge, served two separate stints with the Blount County Sheriff's Office, as well as the former Rockford Police Department, said Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission spokesman Christopher Garrett. The POST Commission certifies officers across the state.
Brewer was hired by the sheriff's office in July 1998, then resigned from his post there in April 2000, according to Garrett. In May of 2000, Brewer took a job with Rockford, but resigned in August of 2000 to return to work for the sheriffs's office.
He resigned from the sheriff's office again in July of 2002.
While serving as a Rockford officer, Brewer was involved in a crash that killed a 29-year-old Blount County woman in May 2000. Brewer was responding to a call for assistance from a sheriff's deputy in his police Jeep when he struck a car driven by Jennifer Lowe Bean.
Brewer was temporarily placed on administrative leave. The fatal crash resulted in a $5 million lawsuit, which was settled in 2003, a Blount County Circuit Court clerk said Monday. Specific terms of the settlement were not available Monday.
Blount deputies were called to Brewer's Sevier Avenue apartment Thursday, where they found Jennifer L. Brewer, 29, with a gunshot wound, according to a news release posted on the sheriff's website.
Jennifer Brewer was taken to Blount Memorial Hospital, where she was later pronounced dead. Her husband, according to the news release, was taken into custody at the scene.
Sheriff James Berrong has refused to answer any future questions from the News Sentinel, referring all calls to his public information officer, Marian O'Briant, who has not returned repeated phone calls.
"I’ll burn your house down, set your dog on fire and there won’t be a member of your family left, do you understand me? I won’t hire it done, I will do it myself! Do you understand me?”
-Blount County sheriff James Berrong talking to his secretary in the Blount County Justice Center, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit, Nuchols v. Berrong, No. 04-5645, July 11, 2005
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