<p>A federal jury Wednesday convicted two men of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire in the 2000 shooting death of DeKalb County sheriff-elect Derwin Brown.</p><p>Melvin Walker and David Ramsey each faced 12 federal charges, including conspiracy to violate the federal murder-for-hire statute, firearms crimes, and using interstate facilities to kill Brown. They were acquitted of four counts of violating civil rights and firearm charges.</p><p>Both men could get life in prison when sentenced Oct. 26. Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty.</p><p>After the verdict was read, Walker's wife, Veleria Walker, screamed and collapsed and had to be carried out by two deputies. Another woman was so overwhelmed with emotion she was also escorted out. Walker's family followed the two out of the room.</p><p>Meanwhile, about two dozen members of the Brown family hugged each other and prosecutors.</p><p>"We're all overjoyed," said Brandy Brown-Rhodes, Derwin Brown's 26-year-old daughter.</p><p>Brown was shot 16 times in front of his home on Dec. 15, 2000, just days before he was to have succeeded DeKalb County Sheriff Sidney Dorsey _ whom he defeated in that year's election.</p><p>Suspicions immediately turned to Dorsey. In a 911 call that night, Brown's wife, Phyllis Brown, told a dispatcher: "If Sidney did something to my husband, I'm going to kill him."</p><p>Walker and Ramsey were acquitted in a state trial in March 2002, but Dorsey was convicted of plotting the murder in a separate trial and is serving a life prison sentence.</p><p>Atlanta's agent in charge of the FBI, Greg Jones, said "just the fact that a law enforcement officer was gunned down so brutally" meant the federal government was compelled to go for a prosecution after Walker and Ramsey were acquitted in state court.</p><p>The government built its case around the testimony of Patrick Cuffy and Paul Skyers, two conspirators who were granted immunity in the case by local prosecutors.</p><p>Cuffy allegedly was the armed lookout in the shooting, while Skyers has said he was the getaway driver.</p><p>Prosecutors argued that Walker, the suspected triggerman, was promised a promotion to deputy sheriff if he helped kill Brown.</p><p>Ramsey, the alleged backup shooter, was promised a job as a detention officer, they said.</p><p>The defense argued that Cuffy and Skyers were the real killers and that the two were accusing Walker and Ramsey to save themselves.</p><p>Even prosecutors voiced frustration that the two witnesses were granted immunity. The decision "makes you furious," federal prosecutor Bobbi Bernstein said to jurors, while defense lawyer Xavier Dicks called them "the biggest liars in DeKalb County."</p><p>Defending the immunity deal, assistant U.S. attorney William McKinnon said, "There's certain cases that require extraordinary measures to arrest and prosecute."</p><p>After the hearing, Walker's attorney said he was surprised.</p><p>"I just didn't think the evidence was so overwhelming they could come back with a guilty verdict in a day and a half," Max Richardson said.</p><p>Mark Issa, another attorney on the defense team, described Walker's reaction to hearing the verdict.</p><p>"He's gonna be one place, and his family's gonna be another. I could tell by the look on his face that he came to that realization," Issa said.</p><p>The verdict inks a grim footnote to the life of Derwin Brown, who first served DeKalb as a youth counselor for troubled teens and soon became one of the county's first black patrol officers.</p><p>As DeKalb's black population grew, so did Brown's civic involvement.</p><p>He ran for sheriff against Dorsey in 2000 on an anti-corruption platform and dreamed of creating a program to help needy students cultivate technical and culinary skills.</p><p>When asked Wednesday if justice was served, Brown's widow, Phyllis, said a single word: "Yes." Phyllis Brown suffered a stroke after her husband's death, and she has difficulty speaking, but her eyes with moist with tears as she put down a walking cane and hugged prosecutors in the case.</p><p>The slain sheriff's sister, Renee Brown, called the almost half-decade wait for convictions "a long, hard fight."</p><p>"We have attained justice," she said. "That's what we were fighting for."</p>
