James Brown Jr. pleads not guilty to murder in Poospatuck Reservation killing of Umar Elquhir

A Poospatuck Reservation resident accused in the Nov. 7 fatal shooting of a North Bellport man pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder Tuesday at his arraignment in a Central Islip courtroom.

Suffolk County District Judge Scott Carrigan ordered James Brown Jr., 43, held without bail. Prosecutors said Brown shot his longtime acquaintance Umar Elquhir, 45, nine times outside Brown’s Poospatuck Lane home during the night of Nov. 7.

Elquhir had been at Brown’s home earlier in the day, according to prosecutors, who said a verbal dispute between the two men escalated into two physical scuffles. Elquhir left the home but returned several hours later.

Defense attorney Steven Politi told Carrigan that Elquhir was known on the reservation as a brutally violent man and that Brown opened fire because he believed Elquhir had returned to kill him. Elquhir was acquitted in February of second-degree murder in the 2020 fatal shooting of a Hempstead man in East Patchogue, court records show.

“The question in this case is going to come down to, ‘Do you have to sit there and wait for someone to kill you, or do you have the right to protect yourself?' ” Politi said after Tuesday’s hearing. “That’s what it comes down to, and homeowners should have the right to protect themselves.”

Brown served more than 3½ years in prison, from February 2012 to September 2015, in the Southport Correctional Facility for a first-degree assault conviction, according to New York State records. He also has a criminal record in Florida, and Suffolk prosecutors told Carrigan Brown has a history of failure to appear in court.

Politi argued that Brown was not a flight risk and should have been allowed to post bail. Brown, who was arrested on the second-degree murder charge on Monday, did not flee in the week-and-a-half since the shooting and had been willing to cooperate with investigators.

Several Brown family members attended Tuesday’s hearing, prompting Politi to tell Carrigan that Brown would not flee because everybody he loves and everything he cares about is in Suffolk County.

A grand jury reviewing evidence in the case is expected to hand down an indictment on Wednesday, and Politi said he expects his client to appear for arraignment on those charges next week in Riverhead.