Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns From: [k--tc--l] at [netcom.com] (Kenneth C. Mitchell) Subject: BATF agent kills another BATF agent Date: Sun, 27 Mar 1994 19:49:19 GMT On July 30, 1991, BATF Special Agent Mark Herzog shot and killed BATF Special Agent Brad Brown in their offices in Sacramento, CA during what was described as a "game of Russian roulette". I wasn't around on talk.politics.guns back when this case broke in the summer of 1991, so I don't know if it was reported here or not. But I didn't see any report of it when the final resolution happened this January, and when I mentioned it a few weeks a go, several people seemed shocked and amazed, so I thought as sort of a public service that I'd research the case and post a summary. Data is taken from the Sacramento Bee newspaper; I'll cite editions and page numbers as I go along. I'm typing this stuff in manually, so I've deleted most of the repetition of facts that invariably occurs in a series of newspaper articles. And of course, any typos are probably mine. If you'd like to see the originals but don't have access to the Sacramento Bee on microfilm in your local library, I'll be happy to fax them to you; e-mail me your fax number and I'll get them off in a day or so. -------------------------------------- 7/31/91 Pg B1: "A federal agent was fatally shot Tuesday when one of his colleagues mishandled a revolver in the Sacramento office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, police said. Mark Herzog, 35, resident agent in charge of the office, as arrested on "an open charge of murder" as a result of his alleged gross negligence in the death of Bradford Scott Brown, 25, according to Sacramento Police Lt. Ken Walker. "We're booking him for homicide, and we wouldn't be doing that if we felt this was truly accidental" Walker said. 8/1/92 Front Page: "Special Agent Bradford Scott Brown had been at the Sacramento office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms for about a year. He was a top graduate of his class at law enforcement training school and his future seemed bright. But the 25-year-old agent reportedly missed his family in Michigan and his girlfriend in Chicago. He was plagued by worries over debt problems and was dissatisfied because he had not found a good place to live in the Sacramento area. Brown shared his deep anxiety with Special Agent Mark Herzog, 35, an eight-year ATF veteran who has worked on drug and weapons cases with various agencies throughout the Sacramento area. Herzog, apparently trying to convince the younger agent that his problems were not so bad, took four of the five bullets from his .38 caliber service revolver and placed the barrel of the gun against Brown's temple, one live round still in the cylinder and his finger inside the trigger guard, said Sacramento County Deputy District Attorney John O'Mara. It was perhaps "an attempt to show him (Brown) how silly or how out of focus" his thoughts were "and that really he didn't have anything to be despondent about", O'Mara said. "To dramatize that point or to make the point in a very emphatic way, he (Herzog) did this with the gun" he (O'Mara) said. What happened next is unclear <> but somehow a shot was fired and Brown fell to the floor, instantly dead from a single bullet wound to the head. Herzog later admitted to Sacramento police homicide investigators that he had held the gun to Brown's head and that he had his finger over the trigger. He claimed in a recorded statement that Brown grabbed for the gun, forced his own finger into the trigger guard and pulled the trigger himself, O'Mara said. O'Mara found it difficult to believe that two fingers could have fit in the trigger guard. Even if that were true, O'Mara said it would not have changed his decision Wednesday to charge Herzog with second degree murder because of the irresponsible way in which Herzog handled his weapon. " ------------------ The remainder of the article gave background data on Brown, who was engaged to be married, and Herzog, who was widely praised as "a professional and likeable person" and "very professional, easy going", which is a bit scary, given what was revealed at the trial. It took two and a half years for the case to come to trial; this seems a little long considering the nature of the case. ------------------- From the Bee, 12/2/93, B5: "On Wednesday, Brown's father testified that he had shown no signs of depression or suicidal tendencies during a trip home to Detroit a week before his death." "ATF officer Steve Carman testified that Herzog was known as a joker in the office, and on one occasion climbed onto a chair and put an unloaded revolver to his temple as a joke. Another time Herzog told him that he had pointed a gun to his own head and pulled the trigger in front of a deputy who'd been despondent over a relationship." 12/8/93: "Mark Herzog, a former federal agent on trial for the murder of another officer who died during a game of Russian roulette, was found guilty Tuesday of a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter. As a result, Herzog could face a sentence ... of anywhere from probation to nine years on prison. Deputy District Attorney Marv Stern said that although he lost, justice was served. "Justice is not necessarily what the prosecution or defense attorneys ask for. Justice is a chance to be heard. I'm not disappointed" said Stern. Herzog testified he had often had to counsel Brown about letting relatively minor personal problems get out of hand. "The way you're handling these problems is like Russian roulette", Herzog testified he told Brown, minutes before the fatal shot. "You never know when the gun is going to go off." Prosecutor Stern argued that Herzog, who had a reputation as the office clown and on occasion would toy with loaded guns, had used his position of Brown's friend, mentor and counselor to inflict what was intended to be a cruel joke. "This man was not above manipulation and destructiveness and wanting to do dramatic things and that's exactly what a game of Russian roulette is," Stern said during closing arguments. Defense attorney Christopher Wing argued that the gun discharged accidentally as Brown and Herzog struggled. Wing said although his client "showed poor judgment" - including drinking 4 margueritas the afternoon of the shooting - there was no "mean or malicious motive". Superior Court Judge Richard Park, who heard the case without a jury at the mutual request of the prosecution and defense, agreed with Wing's assessment. "The defendant and Brad were friends, and there is no evidence to contradict testimony, however outrageous, that the motive was to spring Brad out of his moping", Park said. Park called the game of Russian roulette an act of stupidity, but said he was convinced that Brown didn't believe that the gun was going to go off. ----------------- I was unable to find the article from January of this year which detailed his sentencing (I was running out of time at the library, but I'll go back the next time I've got a free hour or so) but recall that it was very light. In reviewing the case, I find it odd that a BATF agent who was apparently known to engage in unsafe horseplay with his firearm would not have been reprimanded, and if necessary suspended, for this practice long before he finally managed to kill somebody through his stupidity. I also think that this example, in July of 1991, demonstrates once again that for some unknown reason, the BATF has a propensity for dramatic stunts that go tragically awry. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kenneth Mitchell |"Few traits of totalitarian regimes are at the same time 8037 Stone Canyon Cir|so confusing to the superficial observer and yet so Citrus Heights, CA |characteristic of the whole intellectual climate as the 95610 |complete perversion of language, the change of meaning 916-722-6040 (voice) |of the words by which the ideals of the new regimes are 916-729-0966 (fax) |expressed. The worst sufferer in this respect is, of [k--tc--l] at [netcom.com] |course, the word "liberty". finger for PGP public| key! | F.A. Hayek, "The Road to Serfdom" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------