Man suffers apparent seizure during his guilty plea

Marion Lamont Brown was in the middle of pleading guilty to the 2011 kidnapping and raping of a woman in West Ashley when he started to shake uncontrollably in court this morning.

Brown’s attorney, Beattie Butler, told the judge something was wrong and that Brown, who suffers from seizures, has had one in front of him before.

The 22-year-old man’s body became stiff and several court deputies held him up until they sat him in a chair and rolled him away.

Brown was entering a negotiated plea for charges of kidnapping, criminal sexual conduct in the first degree and grand larceny.

Brown was taken to a hospital following the seizure, according to Solicitor Scarlett Wilson. Prosecutors did not think Brown would be able to return to court for a 1 p.m. plea appearance, so it has been postponed. No date has been set yet for a rescheduled appearance according to the Solicitor’s office.

On May 23, 2011 Brown kidnapped a woman, who will remain unidentified, outside West Ashley Primary Care at 2270 Ashley Crossing Drive, Charleston County Sheriff’s authorities said.

The woman was starting to make a phone call from inside her vehicle when, authorities have said, Brown got into her car and threatened to kill her, demanding she drive away.

They ended up at a vacant house about a mile away on Sunnydale Drive, where the man sexually assaulted her in the back yard, according to a sheriff’s report. After the attack the man forced her to disrobe and threw her clothes over a fence before driving away in her car.

Deputies found the car on Ashley Crossing Drive, and two witnesses identified Brown in a photo lineup, according to authorities. They said a DNA sample already on file in Brown’s name led them to his residence on McGill Court on Johns Island on June 8, 2011.

Sighs of disappointment were heard in the court room when the judge rescheduled the plea for later this afternoon. The victim had several friends and family members supporting her in the downtown Charleston court house.

Brown faces a possible 30-year sentence with the plea. He would be required to serve 85 percent of that time.

Reach Natalie Caula at 937-5594 or Twitter.com/ncaula.