Charges stem from 2020 incident
A Coldwater man will spend the next 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to his role in the 2020 stabbing death of his uncle following a family altercation in Poplar Bluff, Missouri.
Terry A. Brown, 29, originally was charged with the Class A felony of second-degree murder and the unclassified felony of armed criminal action in the death of 50-year-old Virgil Brown II. Brown revoked his earlier not guilty plea and pleaded guilty to the lesser charge, Class B felony voluntary manslaughter.
The Daily American Republic reported the charges against Brown resulted from an investigation by the Poplar Bluff Police Department after officers were called to a home in the 1000 block of Grand Avenue around 11:40 p.m. May 7, 2020, regarding a fight in progress.
“While officers were responding, they were advised one person at the scene had been stabbed,” said Detective Joey Woodruff in an earlier report. “Inside, Patrolman (Brentyn) Clark found Virgil Brown II laying in the floor, bleeding from an apparent chest wound.”
According to Woodruff, a woman at the scene reported her grandson, Terry Brown, “was responsible for stabbing Virgil Brown II.”
The younger Brown’s fiancé reported, “Terry had gotten into a verbal argument and physical altercation” with his brother, Woodruff said at the time. “She stated that once the altercation was over, she tried to get Terry to leave the house.”
Woodruff reported, “Terry briefly separated from the family to cool off,” but he and his fiancé were “approached by Virgil Brown, who was insulting her and instigating Terry.”
Brown’s fiancé, Woodruff said, also reported he took two butter knives from the kitchen and allegedly took a “defensive stance toward everyone, but discarded the butter knives and retrieved another knife, which he already had on his person.”
Brown allegedly pointed the knife at other people, and at that point, Virgil Brown II “grabbed Terry to subdue him and a scuffle ensued in the hallway,” Woodruff said.
During that scuffle, Virgil Brown II was stabbed.
According to Woodruff, Terry Brown alleged “people were trying to fight him and Virgil Brown II put him in a choke hold, so he pulled out his knife and stabbed him ‘in self-defense.’”
Paul Davis from the Daily American Republic newspaper in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, contributed information for this story.
