Donald Middlebrooks was sentenced to death by the State of Tennessee for the murder of Kerrick Majors
According to court documents Donald Middlebrooks would kidnap fourteen year old Kerrick Majors who would be tortured and murdered
Donald Middlebrooks would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Donald Middlebrooks Photos
Donald Middlebrooks Now
| Supervision Status: | INCARCERATED | Assigned Location: | RIVERBEND MAXIMUM SECURITY INSTITUTION |
| Combined Sentence(s) Length: | DEATH | Supervision/Custody Level: | MAXIMUM |
| Sentence Begin Date: | 10/30/1987 | Sentence End Date: |
Donald Middlebrooks Case
The State’s proof introduced at the guilt phase of the trial demonstrated that on the evening of Sunday, April 26, 1987, around 7:00 p.m., the victim, Kerrick Majors, a 14-year-old black male, was with four friends on Gallatin Road in East Nashville, Tennessee, when they saw a table with a “lot of stuff” being set up across the street as a flea market by three homeless street persons: the defendant, Donald Middlebrooks (a 24-year-old white male); his wife, 17-year-old Tammy Middlebrooks; and their companion, 16-year-old Roger Brewington. The five boys ran across Gallatin Road and were looking at the flea market when Tammy *324 Middlebrooks called out, “Hey, leave our stuff alone!” The boys started running. Donald Middlebrooks and Brewington chased them until they caught Majors. Brewington grabbed Majors in a “sleeper hold” around his neck and head. The defendant held his hand. When Majors said, “Hey man, you know me,” Brewington responded, “Shut up, you nigger.” Shannon Stewart and another of the boys, Tony Watson, saw the two men drag Majors toward the table and observed the defendant strike him in the face, knocking him to the ground. Frightened, the boys took off running. Later that evening, they reported these events to the victim’s mother, who called the police.
The next afternoon, Kerrick Majors’ nude body was discovered lying face up in a dry creek bed under a foam mattress in a heavily wooded area behind a drugstore on Gallatin Road in the area where the defendant and Brewington had caught Majors. A bloodstained T-shirt was tied around his neck. A red rope belt was tied around Majors’ left wrist, and there was a two-inch laceration in his right wrist. Abrasions, swelling, and bruising were present on the victim’s head, his left eye, his nose, his lips, and inside his mouth. An “X” with a vertical line running through it had been cut into his chest. The forensic pathologist, Dr. Charles Harlan, testified that these incisions had been made while Majors was alive. There were two deep stab wounds in the center of the body. One of these penetrated the left lung and pulmonary artery and caused the victim to bleed to death over a period of ten to thirty minutes, during part of which Majors was conscious. Investigating officers noticed a smell of urine about the face, and there were bruises and skinned areas on the back. A wooden stick with blood stains on one end was found lying close to the victim’s head
Around 1:10 a.m. on April 28, police investigators met Brewington at a doughnut shop several miles from the Gallatin Road area. Brewington directed the officers to the location of a knife with a brass knuckle handle, which was bloodstained. Dr. Harlan testified that this knife could have inflicted the deep stab wounds on the victim’s body. Brewington also directed the police to a wooded area between Gallatin Road and Ellington Parkway in Nashville where, around 7:00 a.m. on April 28, Donald and Tammy Middlebrooks were apprehended at a small plywood shack. The defendant, who resisted the arresting officers, had a knife with him. He was arrested with the aid of police dogs, taken to the hospital for treatment of the dog bites, and later transported to police headquarters
At 12:30 p.m. that day, Donald Middlebrooks gave a lengthy video-taped statement about his involvement in the death of Kerrick Majors. The defendant admitted participating in the beating and mistreatment of Majors, but described his role as minor and depicted Roger Brewington as the primary perpetrator of the offense. After Majors was caught, Middlebrooks said Brewington suggested they “have some fun,” and the three of them took Majors back into the woods. His hands were tied. Brewington slapped him, beat him with the knife’s brass knuckles, hit him with a stick, and urinated into his mouth. The defendant admitted striking Majors with his open hand and on the leg with a switch. Defendant said that his wife Tammy had slapped Majors and burned Majors’ nose with a cigarette lighter as Brewington urged her on. Brewington hit Majors on his testicles, threatened to cut “it” open, stuck a stick up Majors’ anus, hit him some more with the brass knuckles, wiped the victim’s blood on himself, beat his mouth and tongue with a stick, dropped the knife on him, gagged him, and slashed his wrist. Finally, when the defendant asked Brewington to stop because the victim’s crying and pleading were getting on his nerves, Brewington gave the victim “the kiss of death” on the forehead. Brewington then gave the defendant the knife and told him to stab Majors. When the defendant refused, Brewington stabbed Majors. The defendant then reluctantly stabbed the victim, according to him, “to prove to Roger that I guess I was cooler” and to put Majors out of his misery. In a previous statement, however, the defendant had said that he had stabbed Majors twice. The *325 victim’s ordeal began at 7:30 p.m. and ended at 11:00 p.m. that night with the stabbing.
The next day, Donald Middlebrooks said he and Brewington went back to where they had left the body. Brewington kicked it and made the “X” lacerations at this time. The defendant said he then covered Majors with a foam mattress. The defendant admitted that before beating and killing Majors, he and Brewington had drunk alcohol and smoked marijuana.
Donald Middlebrooks presented no proof.
Based on this evidence, the jury found the defendant guilty of first-degree murder in the perpetration of a felony and aggravated kidnapping, but not guilty of premeditated first-degree murder, armed robbery, or aggravated sexual battery.
https://law.justia.com/cases/tennessee/supreme-court/1992/840-s-w-2d-317-2.html
