Victim: Jasmine Lynn Stoud
Murderer: Brandon Brown, 15
Crime date: August 11, 2002
Crime location: Shamokin, Pennsylvania
Summary
Brown kidnapped and raped his six-year-old neighbor Jasmine Stoud. He smashed her head with a rock and left her partially dressed body along an old mining road. The killer was two months away from his 16th birthday.
Details
Pa. Teen Convicted in Neighbor’s Death
SUNBURY, Pa. (AP) _ A teenager faces life in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping, rape and assault in the death of his 6-year-old neighbor.
Brandon Brown, 17, was convicted Friday in the death of Jasmine Stoud, whose body was found Aug. 12, 2001, at the bottom of an embankment near a former high school. Stoud’s skull was crushed and there was evidence of the girl being sexually assaulted, authorities said.
Brown stood with his hands in his pockets and showed no emotion as the verdict was read following about three hours of deliberations.
Pa. Teen Convicted in Neighbor’s Death
January 25, 2003
SUNBURY, Pa. (AP) _ A teenager faces life in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping, rape and assault in the death of his 6-year-old neighbor.
Brandon Brown, 17, was convicted Friday in the death of Jasmine Stoud, whose body was found Aug. 12, 2001, at the bottom of an embankment near a former high school. Stoud’s skull was crushed and there was evidence of the girl being sexually assaulted, authorities said.
Brown stood with his hands in his pockets and showed no emotion as the verdict was read following about three hours of deliberations.
“Justice was served here,″ Northumberland County District Attorney Anthony Rosini told The Daily Item of Sunbury for Saturday’s editions. “This kid deserves the sentence he’s going to get, which is life.″
Rosini originally sought the death penalty, but changed his mind in January 2002 after a state Superior Court ruling barred the death penalty in cases where the defendant was under 16 when the crime was committed.
The first-degree murder charge carries a mandatory life sentence.
Teen sentenced in 2001 child slaying case
August 19, 2003
HARRISBURG (AP) — A teenager was sentenced to life in prison plus 18 to 60 years for the kidnapping, rape and murder of a 6-year-old girl two years ago.
Brandon Brown, 17, a former neighbor, did not speak during the 2?-hour proceeding, but the parents of victim Jasmine Stoud told Northumberland County Judge Robert B. Sacavage that the loss of their daughter has left them devastated.
“She was a good little girl — very kind, very trustworthy — who didn’t deserve this kind of fate. I just don’t understand why he had to take her life,” said Jasmine’s mother, Rebecca Richards.
Jasmine’s partially clad body was recovered on Aug. 12, 2001, along an old mining road near her home in Shamokin, about 40 miles north of Harrisburg. Her skull had been fractured in several places by a rock that was found nearby.
Investigators testified at Brown’s jury trial in January that Jasmine’s DNA was detected on his body and clothing, and that Brown, who was 15 at the time, told them he had been playing with her and other children the night she disappeared.
“It is difficult to comprehend the viciousness of your actions. It is sufficient that your abhorrent behavior be recognized and that you be punished as harshly as possible,” Sacavage told Brown.
“My sympathy goes out to the parents who obviously have to live with this for the rest of their lives. We’re not used to this kind of case in small towns,” Northumberland County District Attorney Anthony J. Rosini said after Monday’s hearing.
A psychologist who testified in a proceeding that resulted in Brown being declared a sexually violent predator said that, while in prison, he has allegedly tried to strangle a cellmate with a sheet, threatened to kill a guard, and exposed himself to other inmates. Rosini said prison officials have disciplined Brown for his actions, but he has not been charged criminally.
“This is an extremely troubled young man,” Rosini said. “It’s a very, very sad case to see a young child like (Brown) with such a callous and cold personality.”
Michael Romance, Brown’s court-appointed attorney, said his client “was obviously concerned about what was going to happen to him. But he did know in advance what his sentence would be. It was not a surprise.”
One basis for appeal, Romance said, will be Sacavage’s decision to bar the admission of evidence concerning a man who Romance said may have tried to abduct a boy in a nearby town at about the same time as Jasmine’s murder.
But Rosini said a police investigation into that incident determined that the man was a motorist asking for directions from a boy who became frightened.
Sacavage imposed a life sentence for first-degree homicide and a consecutive term of 18 to 60 years for two counts of kidnapping and two counts of rape. Two counts of aggravated assault were merged with the murder charge for sentencing purposes.
Rosini had originally planned to pursue the death penalty against Brown, who was two months shy of his 16th birthday at the time of the murder.
But the district attorney said he was compelled to seek a life sentence instead after the state Superior Court adopted a rule against capital punishment for defendants 15 and younger.
As a sexually violent predator, if Brown is ever released from prison he must notify local police authorities of his whereabouts.
Court requests experts to study teenage killer
June 7, 2016
SUNBURY — A convicted teen killer sentenced to life without parole in 1995 will be evaluated by experts before a Northumberland County judge will hear a Post-Conviction Relief Act motion, made possible by a January U.S. Supreme Court ruling that gives him and more than 2,100 other inmates who committed murders as teenagers the opportunity to seek parole or a new sentence.
On Monday, defense attorney Joseph D’Andrea was given 20 days by county Judge Paige Rosini to file a motion to have Norman Gundrum Jr., who was 15 years old when he fatally stabbed a friend in Milton in 1993, evaluated by psychiatrists and the costs associated with the evaluation. Gundrum appeared in court with his attorney.
“As you know, there are a lot of complexities,” D’Andrea said. “There are thousands of other individuals.”
Rosini said she would review the motion when it was filed and either make a decision based on the paperwork filed or after a hearing if necessary.
Gundrum, now age 39 and incarcerated at SCI-Coal Township, answered only “yes, your honor” when Rosini asked him a series of questions about his understanding of the proceedings. He did not speak any further.
Gundrum was convicted by a jury of first-degree murder in 1995, and was sentenced as an adult to life in prison without parole. A felony count of aggravated assault and a misdemeanor count of making an offensive weapon were not considered.
Gundrum is not Northumberland County’s only teen killer eligible to take advantage of the new ruling. Brandon Brown, who was 15 years old when he kidnapped, raped and killed his 6-year-old neighbor in Coal Township in 2001, has a hearing scheduled for Aug. 22 for the same kind of Post-Conviction Relief Act motion.
Brown, now age 30 and incarcerated at SCI-Forest in Marienville, was convicted in 2003, and was sentenced as an adult to a life sentence for first-degree homicide and a consecutive term of 17 to 70 years for two counts of kidnapping and two counts of rape. Two counts of aggravated assault were merged with the murder charge for sentencing purposes. Seven other charges were not considered.
The body of 6-year-old Jasmine Stoud was recovered Aug. 12, 2001, along an old mining road near her home in Shamokin. Her skull had been fractured in several places by a rock found nearby. Jasmine’s DNA was detected on Brown’s body and clothing.
The Supreme Court’s ruling in January expanded a 2012 decision involving a 14-year-old boy that claimed mandatory life sentences without parole for juveniles was unconstitutional and amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. Until that ruling, it was unclear whether the decision was retroactive to juveniles already serving life sentences.
Milton man to be re-sentenced for murder committed as teen
April 16, 2019
SUNBURY — Convicted teenaged killer Norman Gundrum Jr. will be resentenced in October in Northumberland County Court.
The 42-year-old Gundrum, who was sentenced to life without parole in 1995, and defense attorney Joseph D’Andrea appeared in front of Judge Paige Rosini during a status conference on Monday. Rosini scheduled the two-day resentencing hearing for Oct. 2 and 3.
“It looks like we are ready to go,” said Rosini. “There are no major outstanding issues.”
D’Andrea said it is “better to be safe than sorry” by scheduling two days for the hearing.
He and Assistant District Attorney Robyn Zenzinger, the lead prosecutor in the case, said any minor issues can be addressed before the hearing in October.
The Post-Conviction Relief Act appeal is made possible a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that gives Gundrum and more than 2,100 other inmates who committed murders as teenagers the opportunity to seek parole or a new sentence. The Supreme Court’s ruling expanded a 2012 decision involving a 14-year-old boy that claimed mandatory life sentences without parole for juveniles was unconstitutional and amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. Until that ruling, it was unclear whether the decision was retroactive to juveniles already serving life sentences.
Gundrum, who was 15 years old when he fatally stabbed a friend in Milton in 1993, is incarcerated at SCI-Coal Township.
He was convicted by a jury of first-degree murder in 1995, and was sentenced as an adult to life in prison without parole. A felony count of aggravated assault and a misdemeanor count of making an offensive weapon were not considered.
Gundrum is not Northumberland County’s only teen killer eligible to take advantage of the new ruling. Brandon Brown, who was 15 years old when he kidnapped, raped and killed his 6-year-old neighbor in Coal Township in 2001, also filed a similar appeal through the Post-Conviction Relief Act. He has no scheduled upcoming hearings.
Brown, now age 33 and incarcerated at SCI-Forest in Marienville, was convicted in 2003, and was sentenced as an adult to a life sentence for first-degree homicide and a consecutive term of 17 to 70 years for two counts of kidnapping and two counts of rape.
Two counts of aggravated assault were merged with the murder charge for sentencing purposes. Seven other charges were not considered.
The body of 6-year-old Jasmine Stoud was recovered Aug. 12, 2001, along an old mining road near her home in Shamokin. Her skull had been fractured in several places by a rock found nearby. Jasmine’s DNA was detected on Brown’s body and clothing.
In another appeal for a Post Conviction Relief Act not related to a juvenile committing a crime, convicted killer and death row inmate Brentt M. Sherwood is scheduled to appear in front of Northumberland County Senior Judge Harold F. Woelfel Jr. at 1:15 p.m. May 15 in Jury Room 1. An evidentiary hearing is also scheduled for Feb 10, 2010.
Sherwood, 39, was convicted 12 years ago of beating his 4½-year-old stepdaughter to death. Sherwood, a former Northumberland resident, was sentenced to death in May 2007 after a Northumberland County jury convicted him of first-degree murder in the December 2004 beating death of his 4½-year-old stepdaughter, Marlee Reed. During the trial, Sherwood admitted punching and kicking the child repeatedly in their Northumberland home, but claimed he was high on cocaine and did not mean to kill her.
Commonwealth seeking to maintain sentence of life without parole for convicted child murderer Brandon Brown
SUNBURY — The commonwealth is seeking to maintain a sentence of life without parole for convicted child murderer Brandon Thomas Brown, of Coal Township. Brown, who is represented by Sunbury attorney James Best, was 15 when charged by Coal Township police with kidnapping, assaulting, raping and killing his 6-year-old neighbor Jasmine Stoud on Aug. 11, 2001, in a wooded area not far from their West Walnut Street homes.
