A41471500

Rodney Whipple murdered 18-month-old Shandon Brown by beating him to death. Shandon was Shannon Brown’s child. Shannon and Whipple were dating at the time.



The two had been having a bit of a rough time with their relationship and it appeared as if Shannon might break things off with him. She did not break things off in time.

One day, she left to go get food, leaving Shandon in Whipple’s care. She was gone for about 45 minutes or so. When she left, Shandon was acting like a typical 18-month-old child. Other than having a few problems with asthma and a cold, he was as healthy as could be. When she returned home, Shandon was brain dead.

We will likely never know exactly how Whipple did to Shandon. And we can only begin to guess as to why he murdered Shandon. While we cannot be certain about those things, we can be certain of the results.

Shandon had subdural hemorrhaging, subarachnoid hemorrhaging, anoxic encephalopathy, bilateral retinal and optic nerve hemorrhaging, perineal hemorrhaging, adrenal hemorrhaging, right colon mesenteric hemorrhaging, right radius and ulna fractures, and left radius fractures.

The injuries were so severe that the coroner described them as the types of injuries you would expect to find in an automobile accident. Shandon died the following day later.

At first, it was difficult to know who might have done these horrendous things to Shandon because there had been a few people taking care of him. What pointed directly to Whipple, however, was the human bite mark on Shandon’s back that was ultimately matched to Whipple. Notably, when the state sought dental impressions to determine who left the marks, everyone but Whipple readily complied.

The only thing, for want of a better word, good that can be said about Whipple is that he at least had the decency to plead guilty to what he did. He may not have been willing to spare a child’s life, but at least he was willing to spare making the child’s mother testify about what happened to her child. Of course, Whipple was originally facing the death penalty, so pleading was probably nothing more than him trying to save himself.

Notably, this was not Whipple’s first encounter with the law. His criminal history is significant for:

·       Criminal Trespass in 1992 – 3 months of probation

·       Felonious Assault in 1994 – 20 months imprisonment and 3 years of probation

·       Trafficking Drugs in 1996 – 1 year imprisonment

·       Domestic Violence in 2000 – 180 days in jail

Finally, at the time this case was at the trial level, the undersigned was working as a law clerk in the courtroom Whipple was being tried in. I remember him. I remember how he showed no emotion, no remorse. He sat in front of me, coldly showing not a care in the world about the fact that he had murdered a child. Then, his callousness was unnerving to me. Now, as a father, it horrifies me beyond imagination.

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