Phyllis Brown, widow of former DeKalb Sheriff-elect, dead at 52

<p>Phyllis Brown, the widow of former DeKalb County Sheriff-elect Derwin Brown who launched a lengthy legal battle against his assassins in court, has died from complications of an illness, a family friend said. She was 52.</p><p>Brown died Sunday night at the DeKalb Medical Center, where she had been admitted for flu-like symptoms, said Geraldine Champion.</p><p>Brown's husband was gunned down in the driveway of their home on Dec. 15, 2000 _ three days before he was to have been sworn into office. Then-Sheriff Sidney Dorsey was later convicted of plotting his rival's killing and was sentenced to life in prison.</p><p>Phyllis Brown filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Dorsey, the others involved in the murder and DeKalb County. But Georgia courts dismissed the claims against the county, ruling that DeKalb couldn't be on the hook for the crimes of its employees. The U.S. Supreme Court in November refused to consider the case.</p><p>Phyllis Brown already had been awarded the maximum allowable by law _ $75,000 from the State Indemnification Commission in 2002, Gov. Sonny Perdue's office previously said.</p><p>Two other men _ Melvin Walker and David Ramsey _ were sentenced in November 2005 to life in federal prison for their part in the murder-for-hire killing. The two, who previously were acquitted in a state trial in 2002, were convicted in August of federal conspiracy charges related to Brown's slaying.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x1cd9dfc)</p>