Henderson man gets life sentence for home invasion

After a three-day trial, jurors convicted Reginald Love Brown, 36, of conspiring to interfere with interstate commerce by robbery, committing a robbery which interfered with interstate commerce and using and carrying a firearm during a crime of violence.

District Judge James Dever added 40 years to be served after Brown's life sentence.

Prosecutors said that Brown and Ernest Augustus "Gus" Hawkins, 33, both gang members, planned the May 20, 2008, robbery of an Alexander Avenue home whose residents were known to sell crack cocaine.

Brown tied up six people with duct tape and shot Preston Williams in the chest, prosecutors said, while Hawkins and three other people searched the house for cocaine and money.

Hawkins was sentenced in June to 20 years in federal prison for his role in the robbery.

Three other suspects – Fredrick Lamarca Hunt, Orlando Harris, both of Oxford, and James Alvin Fisher, of Henderson – have pleaded guilty in connection with the robbery, according to court documents.

Hunt is serving a 2½-year sentence for second-degree burglary, common-law robbery and possession with intent to sell, according to state Department of Correction records. He is scheduled to be released in late September.

DOC records show that Love has previous state convictions for assault inflicting serious injury and possession of a firearm by a felon, while Hawkins has served time for convictions including assault with a deadly weapon, inciting a riot and breaking and entering. Hunt has three previous convictions for passing worthless checks.