Death of Brandon Brown

Brandon Brown (June 13, 1986 – September 22, 2012) was a defensive lineman for the Tabor College Bluejays football team in Hillsboro, Kansas. Originally from Sacramento, California, Brown had transferred to Tabor from a California community college and was playing as a redshirt junior. Early on Sunday morning, September 16, 2012, he was found beaten and unresponsive on a street in nearby McPherson, Kansas. He was taken to a hospital in Wichita, where he died from his injuries on September 22, 2012.

The case drew national attention because both Tabor College and McPherson College, whose football programs had produced the two men later charged, were founded by the Church of the Brethren, which circulated information about the case to its affiliated churches and schools. Coverage included ESPN, Sports Illustrated, The Huffington Post, USA Today, and Fox Sports. On October 4, 2012, the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference and the presidents of McPherson and Tabor colleges agreed to cancel a football game between the two schools that had been scheduled for October 20, 2012, citing the ongoing investigation. McPherson College President Michael Schneider stated that the two colleges did not have a rivalry that would explain the incident.

Two former McPherson College football players, Alton Franklin and Dequinte Oshea Flournoy, were charged in connection with Brown's death. Both had been on the McPherson roster the previous year; Franklin had been listed as a sophomore linebacker at the start of the 2012 season but was dismissed from the team before the incident, and Flournoy was also no longer on the team. The investigation was conducted jointly by the McPherson Police Department, the McPherson County Sheriff's Office, and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

At a preliminary hearing on January 31, 2013, both men were bound over for trial on charges of being accessories to second-degree murder and initially pleaded not guilty. The McPherson County Medical Examiner testified that Brown's blood alcohol level was 0.30, above the Kansas legal limit. Defense attorneys argued the men acted in self-defense, asserting that armed individuals had tried to force entry and had stabbed a door with a knife.

On April 2, 2013, Flournoy, then 20, pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of aggravated battery, avoiding trial and agreeing to testify against Franklin. On June 4, 2013, Flournoy was sentenced to two years of probation. Franklin proceeded to trial on charges of murder and manslaughter. Two witnesses testified they saw Franklin strike Brown, while Flournoy testified he had hit Brown but did not see anyone else do so. The defense maintained there was no evidence Franklin struck anyone. The jury found Franklin not guilty, and he was released from jail.