Murder suspect changes mind about going to trial - WSMV Channel 4

Murder suspect changes mind about going to trial

A plea deal means there will be no trial for the man who shot and killed his ex-girlfriend and wounded her mother.

Charles Godspower will spend a long time in prison for the crime that rocked Smyrna a year ago.

It was a forbidden love affair as Godspower dated a girl half his age. Six years later, the relationship turned sour. There was a bitter break up and even a restraining order, and then it ended in murder.

Godspower was set to go on trial for the murder of his ex-girlfriend, Briana Brown, and for shooting her mother, but then he changed his mind.

Diana Glover survived being gunned down in the driveway of her Smyrna home. While she now walks with a slight limp, she has made a remarkable recovery.

"My difficult part of recovering is recovering without my daughter, Briana," Glover said. "She was always pushing me and making me do things I didn't think I could do."

Investigators said Brown, who was 22 at the time of her death, was shot by Godspower - the man who is also the father of her son. Brown died on the scene as she tried to get away in her car.

"I never had hatred for this person who took my baby away," Glover said. "I guess it's hard for me to say forgiven, but I don't have hatred."

Godspower's murder trial was set to begin Tuesday, but he ended up taking a plea deal rather than take his chances with a jury. He was sentenced to 30 years on a lesser charge of second-degree murder and 30 years for attempted first-degree murder.

He will serve the sentences at the same time. Five other charges were dropped.

"I don't think any sentence would be satisfactory to us," said Cheleste Jones, Brown's sister.

Glover said Jones, her oldest daughter, has been the rock of the family and has even helped her to walk again.

"Cheleste can do things as far as getting me there, but she can never take away the physically or mental pain," Glover said.

Brown had taken out an order of protection against Godspower about three months before she was murdered. Now, Glover plans to spread the message about her daughter's domestic violence to any woman who will listen.

"It's never easy on anyone to go through physically or mental abuse," Glover said. "She had to go through it unfortunately to help others, but someone has to pay."

The family is making sure Brown's soon-to-be 5-year-old son, Makhai, never forgets his mother.

"This does not give closure, it allows us to not to continuously have to deal with this, and to be able move on, but it doesn't bring her back," Jones said.

The daycare where Brown's son attends has set up a fund to help him with future expenses. You can make donations to the Makhai Brown Fund at any Fifth Third Bank branch.

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