BEAUMONT, Texas — A 50-year-old Beaumont man has been sentenced by a Jefferson County jury to a life sentence for killing another man outside a Beaumont club on Christmas Day in 2020.
The jury decided on Thursday that Fredrick Harden, 50, was guilty of killing Christopher Brown, 25, of Orange. The sentencing phase of the trial took place Friday morning.
Harden did not react as the judge read aloud the sentence the jury decided upon
Brown’s sister gave a victim impact statement following the sentencing and started by showing photos of her brother as she stood before the man convicted of killing him.
“I wanted to be able to show you guys some pictures because throughout this week we've seen a lot of pictures of Christopher and all of them are Christopher after his spirit has left his body,” she said.
“That's his vessel. That's not the brother I knew and I wanted you to be able to see who he is.”
She thanked the court on behalf of her family and said “God is a God of justice and I'm glad to see his justice played out here today.”
She then spoke directly to Harden…
“When I look at you Mr. Harden, my heart hurts, so I know it will be hard for me to explain what you took from us on December 25, 2020. I'm gonna try and I hope that somewhere in this process God will soften your heart for us.”
She went on to describe the moment that her mother called her early on Christmas Day while she was hiding in a closet wrapping presents for her family to tell her that her brother had been murdered.
As she tried to calm her mother and told her it could be a mistake and that it could be someone else, she told the court she found herself even hoping it was someone else’s family member.
But she told the court she found herself feeling bad about hoping that saying “I know as a child of God that no one deserves to get that call.”
Testimony began on Tuesday in the trial of Harden, who was accused of killing Christopher Brown in the parking lot of the End-Zone Sports Lounge on Concord Rd.
Harden faced two charges, assault with a deadly weapon and first-degree murder. He is currently on trial for his murder charge before Judge John Stevens in the Criminal District Court.
Trial Day Three
On Thursday afternoon, defense attorney Ryan Gertz asked for a mistrial saying one of his witnesses had backed out because his testimony might have been used against him in an unrelated probation violation case.
The witness, who is on probation for an unrelated crime was supposed to testify for the defense but he is currently awaiting a motion to revoke his probation Gertz said in court.
Gertz says the district attorney notified the witness through his attorney that if he testified that he was at the murder scene, he would be admitting to violating his probation and his testimony could be used in the motion to revoke his probation.
Judge Stevens denied the motion for a mistrial saying that a defendant has the right to refuse to testify because of the Fifth Amendment's protection against self-incrimination.
Earlier Thursday the state rested its case after calling a forensic pathologist and a weapons expert to the stand.
The pathologist testified that Harden would have been at least one foot away from Brown when he was shot and spoke of the technical aspects of her investigation.
The firearms examiner spoke of grooves and other things examined during test firings of the weapon suspected to have been used in the fatal shooting.
Gertz began presenting the case for the defense on Thursday by calling an stand who testified that a wallet and a gun were found inside the Brown's car after he was killed.
The defense also called a former security officer from the End Zone to the stand, who said he was not asked to go to the police station to answer questions after the shooting. He also testified that officers never asked him to be a witness.
Trial Day Two
During testimony on Wednesday prosecutors called on Christopher Price, who was working as a bouncer at the bar when the murder happened, to testify.
Price testified that while he had never seen the victim, Christopher Brown, at the club before that night he was familiar with Harden through relatives.
He talked about breaking up a fight between Harden’s niece and another woman saying that Harden had grabbed someone’s phone and thrown it on the ground thinking they were recording the fight.
He also testified that Harden and Brown began to fight and were pulled apart.
Price testified that he witnessed the shooting but did not see Harden after the shooting and did not see him leave the club.
Under cross examination, defense attorney Ryan Gertz asked Price if felt confident about everything he’d testified about.
“Absolutely,” Price responded from the stand.
Gertz then asked, if a video was shown of the shooting would everything Price testified about match the video. Price responded saying that it would.
Trial Day One
The prosecution's opening statement on Tuesday claimed Harden was identified by eye-witnesses and had telephone admissions to killing Brown.
According to the prosecution, a fight ensued between two women in the bar parking lot and Brown began to video the fight on the Snapchat app. Brown was then confronted by Harden who slapped the phone from his hands and shot Brown in the chest.
However, Harden's attorney, Ryan Gertz, claims Harden was trying to break up the female fight when he noticed Brown videoing the fight and slapped the phone from his hands.
Gertz claims Brown punched Harden in the face and two of Brown's friends assisted Brown into fighting Harden at the same time.
Gertz believes Brown acted in self defense.
Witness testimony followed opening statements and will continue Wednesday.
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This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.