Woman found not guilty in boyfriend’s death

Cherelle Baldwin, a young mother who claims she crushed her abusive boyfriend Jeffrey Brown with her car in self-defense, was found not guilty at Superior Court on Main Street in Bridgeport, Conn., on Thursday Mar. 31, 2016. Cherelle, standing in center, stands with her father Bernard Baldwin Sr., at left, mom Cynthia Long, and brother Bernard Baldwin Jr., at right, outside of the courthouse after the verdict. less Cherelle Baldwin, a young mother who claims she crushed her abusive boyfriend Jeffrey Brown with her car in self-defense, was found not guilty at Superior Court on Main Street in Bridgeport, Conn., on Thursday ... more Photo: Christian Abraham / Hearst Connecticut Media Buy photo Photo: Christian Abraham / Hearst Connecticut Media Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close Woman found not guilty in boyfriend’s death 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

BRIDGEPORT — Not guilty.

The words were barely out of the forewoman’s mouth when Cherelle Baldwin let out a scream and collapsed on the floor of the courtroom, loudly sobbing.

“My baby, my baby, is going to get his mommy back,” she wailed as her lawyer, Miles Gerety, struggled to help her, nearly falling himself.

After three years in prison and two trials for killing her abusive boyfriend with her car, the 24-year-old Baldwin was going home.

“I said all along, my daughter was innocent,” her mother, Cynthia Long, later angrily proclaimed. “But they held her for three years.”

Despite pleas for Baldwin’s release from 38 national domestic violence advocates and an online petition, she was tried for murder in the 2013 death of Jeffrey Brown.

“Not guilty is not guilty, what are you going to do?” Brown’s father, Jeffrey Hines said as he left the courthouse with family. “The jury made a decision and you have to respect that.”

On May 18, 2013, Baldwin plowed Brown into the side of the neighbor’s garage next to her Ash Street home with her car, the impact of his body leaving an impression in the cement wall.

Baldwin testified before the Superior Court jury that she didn’t mean to kill Brown, but was trying to escape him after he beat and choked her with a belt. She said all she was thinking when she pressed her foot down on the gas pedal was getting back to her crying baby, who she had left in her apartment.

Baldwin told the 12-member jury she met Brown in January 2011 and within weeks became pregnant with their son, who was born that October. She said she later learned Brown was a drug dealer and testified that after she tried to break off their relationship he became abusive, stalking her, slashing her car tires and attacking her.

Ten days before he was killed, Brown pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge for grabbing Baldwin’s cell phone out of her hand, and he was ordered to stay away from her by a judge.

Baldwin said Brown ignored the judge’s order, and on May 18 broke into her home and beat and choked her as she lay on the bed with their child.

However, prosecutors contended there were inconsistencies in her testimony and that it did not match the physical evidence at the scene.

Last year a jury deadlocked 11 to one on a verdict in the case.

“I’ve never had a client I’ve believed more,” Gerety said later as he hugged Baldwin outside the Main Street courthouse. “She has been through a nightmare.”

“My son is going to have his mother back,” Baldwin said.