THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 13, 1994 TAG: 9406130045
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LYNN WALTZ, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940613 LENGTH: VIRGINIA BEACH
It was the night before Halloween and the youngest, Curtis Brandon, had a .22-caliber revolver. So they called Pizza Hut and placed an order, then went to the parking lot to wait, Paige told police.
{REST} A Chanello's pizza delivery man, James Murray, had the misfortune to arrive at Regency Apartments first. On the spur of the moment, the youths decided to rob him instead, Paige said.
What happened next was so senseless and coldblooded it caused a prosecutor to later describe Brandon as ``the most dangerous man in Virginia Beach.''
Murray said Brandon pulled a gun and asked for money, then told him to ``Go ahead and get out of here.'' But when Murray started to leave, Brandon said, ``Hey you!'' Then he shot him point-blank in the chest, Murray said.
The bullet ripped through his heart, diaphragm and liver and lodged behind his lung. While Murray lay bleeding on the asphalt parking lot, the three teenagers went back to the apartment and ate the pizza.
Within an hour, Murray went into cardiac arrest on the operating table and was resuscitated by surgeons. But for the skill of the medical team, Brandon would have faced capital murder charges.
The three boys later bragged to their friends about the shooting, court records say. On the day of the crime, Paige was 17, Jose Cecilio Blake was 16 and Brandon had turned 16 two weeks earlier.
\ Brandon is the only one of the three teens who is still in Virginia Beach jail, held without bail awaiting trial - not only in the Murray case, but also in the robbery of two other pizza delivery men. More charges are pending.
Police believe that one week before Murray was shot, Brandon robbed cab driver Timothy Emrick at 7:40 p.m., then at 11:20 p.m. used a gun to rob pizza delivery man David Pricenski of $62, firing shots at him as he ran. Charges are pending in the Emrick case.
The week after Murray was shot, police say, Brandon robbed Robert S. Taylor after relieving him of his pizza and cash.
``If he is found guilty on all charges, he could go to jail for the rest of his life, ineligible for parole,'' said Theresa Berry, Brandon's attorney.
Paige is charged only in the Murray case. Blake also faces charges in the robberies of Pricenski and Emrick.
In the Emrick case, court records show, Blake was the alleged gunman.
But when he pulled the gun, he accidentally shot himself in the thigh, apparently maintaining his cool long enough to relieve the cab driver of $19, court records show.
All three boys have been certified as adults and face lengthy prison terms if a jury or judge decides they are guilty.
Attorneys for all three say there's more than meets the eye; two predict acquittals. Paige's version, taken from police reports of his confession, is not accurately portrayed in the report, his attorney, Kim Crump, said, declining to elaborate.
Paige and Blake eventually were bonded out despite written reports from the Department of Youth and Family Services saying they were violent. One memo called Blake ``a danger to the person and property of others,'' saying he assaulted the police officer who arrested him. Paige ``presents a serious threat to the life and safety of others,'' another memo said.
It was at Brandon's bail hearing that prosecutor Shep Wainger told the judge the youth is ``the most dangerous man in Virginia Beach.'' He asked that bond be denied. The judge granted the request.
All three boys have juvenile records, and at least one has a long history of trouble in school. Paige and Blake attended First Colonial High School. Brandon went to Kellam High.
Blake's juvenile record includes charges of assault, curfew violation, abusive language and being a runaway. The most serious were three charges for carrying a concealed weapon. Paige was charged with being a runaway and having a concealed weapon. The disposition of the charges was not available.
Blake was expelled earlier this year from First Colonial by a disciplinary board for ``disobedience, disruptive behavior and defying authority.'' His school record is checkered with examples of an inability to control his temper, belligerence and threats of violence to teachers.
Brandon had the most serious juvenile charges before the present trouble: robbery, assault, brandishing a firearm, drunk in public, possession of marijuana and assault in juvenile lockup.
Earlier this week, Brandon had his first court appearance as his attorneys prepare for a long summer. A videotaped encounter between Brandon and his mother in an interrogation room at police headquarters stood in sharp contrast to the charges of violence.
``If you're honest, you don't have nothing to hide,'' his mother, Cynthia A. Conyers, told him. ``You do something stupid, you dig yourself further and further in the hole.''
``There's nothing to worry about,'' Brandon told her. ``I didn't have nothing to do with it.''
Conyers leaned over and put her arms around her son.
``All of you got to make a change,'' she said.
``I didn't shoot nobody,'' her son said.
``Just believe in your heart and the truth will come out,'' she said.
``They have to prove it first,'' Brandon said.
``It all depends on what you make of your life now,'' she said. ``What goes around comes around. If you're innocent you'll be OK. Promise me something, that you're not so hurt inside that you'd do something stupid. It's never that bad.''
``I'll try to control myself. Don't worry about it,'' Brandon said.
``Say your prayers. Believe in yourself and in God,'' his mother said before leaving to take her husband home.
``If somebody in your family were shot or robbed, you'd want the person caught.''
Last week in court, Brandon's mother cried as she watched the police video of her conversation with her son. The tape was played for a judge to consider whether it could be used as evidence in his trial.
In the videotape, Brandon looked through the two-way glass of the interrogation room in the detective bureau and began talking, perhaps to himself, perhaps to investigators he believed were behind the glass.
``I'm not dumb. I'm not dumb at all,'' he said.
``I didn't try to hurt nobody. I didn't hurt that man. I didn't have nothing to do with it. Just because I know them boys in Virginia Beach doesn't mean I have anything to do with it. I'll always get the last laugh. I'm damn sure going to be laughing.''
The first of Brandon's three trials is scheduled for Tuesday. Blake's and Paige's trials are scheduled for later this summer.
{KEYWORDS} JUVENILE SHOOTING ROBBERY PIZZA DELIVERY
by CNB