Abran Raya Leon’s defense attorney told a jury Tuesday his client is not complicit in the July 2021 shooting death of Clark County sheriff’s Sgt. Jeremy Brown. Although he didn’t pull the trigger, he is charged with felony murder in Brown’s death as part of an alleged conspiracy to traffick stolen firearms.
Opening statements in Abran Raya Leon’s trial began Tuesday afternoon in Clark County Superior Court. In addition to second-degree murder, he is charged with possession of a stolen firearm and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. (In a felony murder case, prosecutors need only to prove the defendant committed a felony — first-degree conspiracy to commit trafficking stolen property, in this case — and in the course of that felony a murder was committed.)
The court impaneled a jury shortly after 2 p.m.
Defense attorney Alyosha McClain told the jury the detective’s death was not part of any conspiracy Abran Raya Leon, 30, was involved in.
In his opening statement, Clark County Prosecutor Tony Golik laid out a lengthy narrative he said culminated in Abran Raya Leon’s brother, Guillermo Raya Leon, 28, fatally shooting Brown.
He said the events began with Abran Raya Leon’s wife, Misty Raya, 37, burglarizing a Hazel Dell storage unit and stealing a cache of firearms and ammunition. From there, she called her husband, who was in jail at the time, Golik said, and told him about the guns. When Abran Raya Leon got out of jail, the couple, along with Guillermo Raya Leon, set about selling the stockpile, Golik said.
Golik told the jury of numerous police chases on July 23, 2021, while officers tracked Misty Raya’s phone, before finding the trio at an east Vancouver apartment complex.
There, Abran Raya Leon and the others were waiting on a call back from a prospective buyer, Golik said, when his brother took a stolen .357 Magnum revolver outside to confront Brown, whom he suspected was an undercover officer.
“That’s when the defendant’s brother goes around, sneaks up on Jeremy Brown, shoots him from behind and kills him,” Golik said.
Before Brown succumbed to his gunshot wound, he managed to fire seven shots at Guillermo Raya Leon, the prosecutor said.
Then, Abran Raya Leon drove his brother and wife away from the shooting, Golik said.
“It’s the same three that were together, being followed by law enforcement the whole time before. The same three that had been working on selling these stolen guns before. And now, it’s the same three after Guillermo shoots and kills Jeremy Brown,” Golik said. “And the defendant, again, is the driver.”
McClain said the evidence will not show that Guillermo Raya Leon snuck up on Brown, and he noted the number of shots the detective fired before he died.
After opening statements, the state called its first two witnesses, Jill Brown, to identify a photo of her husband while he was alive, and Eric Swenson, who was a sheriff’s detective involved in the investigation.
Trial will continue Tuesday with more state’s witnesses.
