Tina Brown, a Pensacola woman sentenced to death in 2012 for a brutal murder, is the only woman in Florida currently on death row.

Brown, 54, was convicted of premeditated first-degree murder after she, her daughter and a neighbor ambushed 19-year-old Audreanna Zimmerman, attacked her repeatedly with a stun gun, gagged her, stuffed her in the trunk of a car, drove her into the woods, beat her with a crowbar, doused her with gasoline, set her on fire and left her to die.

Zimmerman lived long enough to tell law enforcement that Brown, Brown's then 16-year-old daughter Britnee Miller, and neighbor Heather Lee were the people who attacked her. Zimmerman died approximately two weeks after the attack.

Why did Tina Brown kill Audreanna Zimmerman?



In March 2010, Tina Lasonya Brown, Brown's 16-year-old daughter Britnee Miller, Heather Lee and Audreanna Zimmerman all lived in neighboring trailers in a Detroit Avenue mobile home park in Pensacola, Florida, according to court records.

"The four women were initially good friends, but their relationships – particularly between Miller, Brown, and Zimmerman – were volatile and often escalated to violence. Brown had previously accused Zimmerman of slashing her tires. Zimmerman had accused Brown of shattering a window in her car, having her boyfriend arrested, and reporting to the Florida Department of Children and Families that she was providing inadequate care to her children," a Florida Supreme Court opinion stated.

"Lee testified that she had intervened on multiple occasions to stop physical altercations between Miller and Zimmerman. On one occasion, Miller, who had recently discovered that Zimmerman was sexually involved with her boyfriend, attempted to strike Zimmerman. Zimmerman, however, defended herself by attempting to disable Miller with a stun gun. Later that day, Lee informed Brown that Zimmerman had used a stun gun on Brown’s daughter, to which Brown responded that she was 'going to get' Zimmerman."

Several days later, on March 24, 2010, Brown invited Zimmerman to her home under the guise of rekindling their friendship. Instead the trio ambushed Zimmerman, reportedly using a stun gun on her repeatedly and stuffing a sock into her mouth to stifle her screams for help.

The women forced Zimmerman into the trunk of Brown's car, drove her to a wooded area, removed her from the trunk and then continued beating her with fists and blunt objects and attacking her with the stun gun. They then doused the still conscious woman with gasoline and lit her on fire.

In court, Lee testified that she was standing beside Miller, "who exuberantly jumped up and down and screamed, 'Burn, bitch! Burn!'”

After a few minutes, the women returned to their car and drove away.

How did Audreanna Zimmerman die?



Zimmerman somehow survived the brutal attack and walked approximately a third of a mile to a residence seeking help.

An EMT who arrived estimated that over 90% of Zimmerman's body was burned, noting that her skin was charred and falling off, she had severe head trauma and what appeared to be a broken or dislocated jaw.

However, she remained conscious and alert and told paramedics that Brown, Miller and Lee had been the ones who attacked her.

She reportedly said she "thought they had made up" and asked the EMT to protect her children.

Zimmerman was ultimately stabilized at a local hospital and then transferred to the Burn Center at the University of South Alabama Hospital in Mobile, Alabama. She died 16 days later without ever coming out of a medically induced coma.

Why was Tina Brown sentenced to death?



Based of Zimmerman's statements and other evidence - including a bloodied crowbar and stun gun, a pair of shoes and a piece of hair weave recovered from the site of the burning, as well blood matching Zimmerman's DNA profile found in Brown's car – Brown, Miller and Lee were all arrested and charged with Zimmerman's murder.

On June 21, 2012, a jury convicted Brown of the first-degree murder of Zimmerman. Prosecutors sought to impose the death penalty on Brown, who was painted by witness testimony and evidence as "the instigator and primary aggressor" in the attack.

During the penalty phase of the trial, in which the trial court reviewed aggravating and mitigating factors in the crime and in Brown's life and upbringing, Brown's attorneys highlighted her troubled childhood, noting as a child she had grown up in a home plagued by violence, crime and poverty, that she had been a victim of sexual abuse and neglect, and that she had substance dependence issued that plagued her into adulthood. They noted she had no prior history of criminal violence.

While the court gave "some weight" to those factors, the trial court concluded that the aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating circumstances and noted that "this case, particularly because of the heinous, atrocious, [or] cruel nature of the murder of Audreanna Zimmerman, falls into the class of murders for which the death penalty is reserved.”

Brown has raised several appeals to her conviction and sentence, arguing among other things that she had ineffective counsel and that new testimony from people incarcerated with Lee allegedly revealed that Lee had admitted to having a much larger role in the killing than was presented at Brown's trial.

None of the arguments have swayed courts, and Brown remains on death row. She is housed at the Lowell Correctional Institution Annex in Gainesville, Florida, according to Florida Department of Correction records.

If her death sentence is carried out, she would be only the third woman in Florida history to be executed.

What happened to Britnee Miller and Heather Lee?



Britnee Miller, who was 16 when she participated in the vicious attack, was sentenced to life in prison for her role in the murder . Miller, now 31, has also made multiple attempts to overturn her conviction and sentence, all of which have been unsuccessful.

She is currently in custody at the Lowell Correctional Institution Annex in Gainesville, Florida, according to Florida Department of Correction records.

Heather Lee was sentenced to 25 years in prison after making a plea agreement with the state. She is serving her sentence for second-degree murder at the Gadsden Correctional Facility in Quincy, Florida, with a scheduled released date of Aug. 23, 2031.

What other women have been sentenced to death in Florida?



The Florida Department of Corrections website currently lists 15 women have been sentenced to death, though only two of them were ever actually executed. Additionally, media reports and court records indicate two other women not listed by the FDOC, Tiffany Cole and Margaret Allen, were also sentenced to death but one had her sentence reduced to life and the other died in prison.

What women were executed in Florida?



Only two women have made it all the way to the execution chamber.

Aileen Wuornos was sentenced from Volusia County on in 1992 for the 1989 shooting murder of a Clearwater businessman. She has been implicated in the deaths of several other men. She was executed on October 9, 2002.

Judias Goodyear Buenoano was sentenced in Orange County in 1985 for the 1971 death of her husband, whom she poisoned him with arsenic. Nicknamed the "Black Widow," Goodyear was also convicted (and sentenced to life) for the 1980 drowning murder of her paralyzed son in Santa Rosa County. She had two death warrants signed and stayed. On March 30, 1998, the state of Florida executed Bueonano. She was the first woman to die in the electric chair in Florida.

CONTINUE READING
RELATED ARTICLES