Drug dealer sentenced to life in prison for murder of woman, child

According to the facts proven at his trial, from March through October 2015, Briscoe conspired with others to distribute heroin. On May 25, 2015, Briscoe traveled from his home in Cambridge, to the home of co-defendant Kiara Haynes, with whom he was romantically involved. He told Haynes that he planned to steal heroin from Jennifer Jeffrey, a long-time friend of Haynes. According to trial testimony, during the course of the evening, Briscoe explained that Jeffrey had heroin and he planned to rob and kill Jeffrey to get the heroin. Haynes told Briscoe she would help him get a gun.

Haynes subsequently contacted a relative whom she knew to have a gun. The relative was incarcerated at the time. Haynes told the relative on a recorded jail line that she needed the gun so Briscoe could rob Jeffrey of her drugs. In exchange for allowing Haynes to use the gun, Haynes promised to give the inmate “like 30 (grams)” of the stolen heroin and give him the gun back. The inmate agreed to loan Haynes the gun. After the call, Haynes and Briscoe met with the inmate’s brother, who gave Haynes a .45 caliber firearm. Briscoe and Haynes returned to Haynes’s apartment with the gun.

Later that night, Briscoe left Haynes’s apartment and went to visit Jeffrey at her nearby home. As detailed during trial testimony, after Briscoe returned to Haynes’s apartment on the morning of May 27, 2015, Briscoe told Haynes that Jeffrey had shown him a large amount of heroin and that Jeffrey’s son did not feel well and had not gone to school that day. About 11:41 a.m. Haynes overheard Briscoe on the phone with Jeffrey, who was talking about making breakfast for Briscoe. Briscoe retrieved the .45-caliber gun from Haynes’s bedroom and told her that he was going to Jeffrey’s to get the drugs.

Briscoe then went to Jeffrey’s home, where he carried out his plan by robbing her of at least 80 grams of drugs and murdered Jeffrey, shooting her in the wrist, shoulder, chest, and back of the head. Briscoe also killed Jeffrey’s son, Kester “Tony” Browne, who was still in bed, shooting the child multiple times in the head.

Briscoe returned to Haynes’s apartment and told her that Jennifer Jeffrey and her son were dead and gave Haynes a bag of heroin as her “cut.” As detailed in Haynes’s plea agreement, she returned the gun to the inmate’s relative along with the heroin given to her by Briscoe, as payment for the use of the gun. On May 28, 2015, after a receiving a call for assistance, the Baltimore Police Department discovered Jeffrey and her son dead in their home.

Co-defendant Kiara Haynes, age 38, of Baltimore, was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for two counts of aiding and abetting the use and discharge of a firearm in relation to a drug trafficking crime and crime of violence, causing the death of Jennifer Jeffrey and her 7-year-old son.

This case was made possible by investigative leads generated from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives’ National Integrated Ballistic Information Network. NIBIN is the only national network that allows for the capture and comparison of ballistic evidence to aid in solving and preventing violent crimes involving firearms.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.

United States Attorney Erek L. Barron commended ATF, the FBI, the Baltimore Police Department, and the Cambridge Police Department for their work in the investigation. Barron thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul E. Budlow, who prosecuted the case and thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael C. Hanlon and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Sandra Wilkinson for their assistance.