Cassady talks homicide

Saline County Prosecuting Attorney Ken Casady ruled the August 8, 2011 shooting death of Calvin Keith Brown in Bryant, by Jajuan Legate a justifiable homicide. An investigation by the Bryant Police Department revealed that Brown and Legate had a previous relationship. On July 27, Brown took Legate to Pinnacle Mountain where he threatened her with a gun and told her that he was going to kill her. Legate was eventually able to retrieve the gun and leave. She reported the incident to the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office.

On the day of the shooting, Legate and a passenger in her vehicle drove into her driveway in Bryant. As the car stopped, Brown appeared armed with a .270 rifle. He ordered the passenger to leave and Legate to get back into the vehicle. Brown drove away from the scene with Legate. Brown pointed the rifle at Legate as he drove. Brown told her to call her friend and she pretended to look in her purse for her phone. According to Legate, she pulled a gun from her purse and shot Brown multiple times. The car stopped and Legate ran from the scene. Witnesses stated that Brown got out of the car with the rifle and appeared to be pointing it at Legate as she ran. He later got back into Legate’s car where he died shortly after.

Officers responding to the scene found the rifle next to Brown in the car, and the .38 gun used by Legate in the passenger floorboard. Investigators later found a suicide note among Brown’s effects. Casady stated, “There is no doubt that the facts of this case are tragic, but the evidence shows that Ms. Legate was justified in using deadly force to protect herself.”