Brown v. Commonwealth

A jury in the City of Richmond found Thomas Payne Brown guilty of first-degree murder. He was sentenced in accordance with the jury’s verdict to life in the penitentiary. Brown appealed the judgment of the trial court to the Court of Appeals which denied the petition for appeal and Brown’s petition for rehearing. We awarded Brown an appeal. The dispositive question raised by this appeal concerns his right to make a proffer.

*462The evidence at trial revealed that Wayne Peyton was beaten to death in his mother’s home on March 21, 1991. The police officers found a watch, which belonged to Brown, at…