Testimony began Wednesday in the civil trial brought by Jordan Brown — who was charged with, convicted of and exonerated in the 2009 murder of his father’s girlfriend in their Lawrence County home when he was 11 — against the state troopers who investigated and ultimately drew up charges against Mr. Brown.
The lawsuit claims the troopers — Janice Wilson, Jeffrey Martin, Troy Steinheiser and Robert McGraw, who died in 2022 — violated Mr. Brown’s civil rights when they allegedly fabricated evidence against him.
Mr. Brown was adjudicated delinquent of Kenzie Houk’s murder in 2012. The state Supreme Court overturned Mr. Brown’s conviction in 2018, citing insufficient evidence. He had already been out of custody for two years at that point.
The affidavit of probable cause that led to his arrest, Mr. Brown’s attorneys claim, was fabricated and ultimately “stole his entire childhood.” Mr. Brown, now 26, is seeking damages to account for what his attorney Alec Wright called in the lawsuit “emotional and mental harm including fear, humiliation, and mental anguish.”
He is also seeking to recoup the cost of the legal services and “the value of each day of confinement.”
The trial in U.S. District Court could last up to two weeks. On Wednesday, Mr. Brown’s attorneys called former Pennsylvania State police Commissioner Frank Pawlowski, who was originally named in the lawsuit but later dismissed, and now-retired state Trooper David Bayer. Attorneys also played footage of McGraw’s deposition, which was recorded before his death in 2022.
Mr. Wright told jurors that state troopers failed to hone in on who he called the most likely suspect in the case: Houk’s former boyfriend, who had previously threatened her and against whom she had several restraining orders.
The lawsuit also takes aim at police interviews with Mr. Brown’s younger sister, Janessa, who was 7 at the time. It wasn’t clear if Mr. Brown’s attorneys would call the girl, now an adult, but she is listed among the witnesses the defense intends to bring to the stand.
The lawsuit alleges that it was only in the girl’s third interview that she said she saw her older brother with guns that morning and heard a loud sound that could have been a shotgun blast in their New Beaver home. By the time that interview happened, it was pushing midnight, she had been awake for 16 hours, and had learned her mother was dead. That interview was not recorded, Mr. Wright said in his opening statements.
“There is no evidence of what was said, what questions were asked, how questions were answered or how the interview progressed,” he said.
He also alleged troopers doctored the girl’s statement in the affidavit of probable cause written to support Mr. Brown’s arrest. Later, as he questioned Mr. Pawlowski, he pointed to two specific paragraphs. Did the statements attributed as direct quotes to Janessa in the affidavit match the transcription of the interview?
“No, it appears that portions of one paragraph and a second paragraph were put together,” he said.
In the end, Mr. Wright said, the girl gave them what they needed: The recitation of her morning but with the additional claim she saw Mr. Brown carrying guns and heard a loud sound that could have been a gunshot.
“Just like that, the defense had what they believed that they needed,” he said. “They destroyed the truth and Janessa’s memory of the truth, and they created a lie.”
Nicole Boland, an attorney for the state police, said they had no reason to fabricate any evidence or statements: Mr. Brown had the means, ability and opportunity to carry out the crime. Plus, she said, a witness — his sister — said she saw him with a gun that morning.
She also said the initial investigation did focus on Houk’s ex-boyfriend — there was no probable cause to arrest him, she said.
“Nothing in this case was fabricated,” Ms. Boland said, telling jurors that Mr. Brown’s attorneys wanted them to second-guess Janessa’s recollections. “Investigators did not miss or make up information.”
Testimony will continue Thursday in front of Judge W. Scott Hardy.
First Published: December 4, 2024, 10:47 p.m.
Updated: December 5, 2024, 3:10 p.m.