Former death row inmate appears in court accused of killing wife

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A former death row inmate accused of killing his wife made his first court appearance Monday.

Police said Joseph Shabaka Brown killed his wife, Mamie, last week at the couple's north Charlotte apartment.

He was arrested in Charleston on Friday, police said.

At the courthouse her cousin told Channel 9 she knew about his past, but was surprised about the new arrest.

"The Shabaka that I just saw in that courtroom is not the Shabaka I knew.  Something happened and I don't know what it is," said cousin Sherry Williams.

Brown had been on death row in Florida for 14 years before his murder conviction was overturned in 1987.

WSOC