A federal civil rights trial began against four former troopers and a former Pennsylvania State Police commissioner over the wrongful conviction of Jordan Brown, who was acquitted in the 2009 deaths of his father’s fiancée and unborn child.
Brown was 11 years old when prosecutors say he shot 26-year-old Kenzie Houk and then went to school. Brown’s attorney told jurors that the child left for school that morning and was arrested less than 24 hours later, without any credible evidence. Jordan is now suing for mental and physical damages after spending nearly half his life in juvenile detention for a murder conviction that the PA Supreme Court overturned due to insufficient evidence.
The shooting took place at their home in Wampum, Lawrence County.
A juvenile court judge later found Brown guilty of first-degree murder and murder of an unborn child.
According to the lawsuit, former Troopers Janice Wilson, Jeffrey Martin, Robert McGraw and Troy Steinhauser, as well as former Chief Frank Pawlowski, fabricated evidence against Brown.
The lawsuit claims the only evidence against Brown was a “coerced and fabricated statement” from his soon-to-be stepsister, who was seven years old at the time.
According to the lawsuit, the young girl was interviewed four times within fourteen hours of her mother’s death, including once after midnight. Attorneys for Brown say the first two statements did not prove Brown was guilty, and that the others were “built on lies fed to her by investigators.”
Attorneys said that in her first two statements to police, the young girl said Brown went upstairs to put on his socks and then left for school together.
“People will believe what they want to believe, but Jordan was innocent. He lost his entire childhood because he was wrongly convicted of a crime he didn’t commit,” Wright said.
In 2016, Brown was released from juvenile detention, but he and his defense team continued to argue his innocence.
Today, retired soldier David Bayer took the stand in court and testified about his role in the investigation. He was assigned to interview Kenzie Houk’s sister, who he said spoke to her several times a day. He looked at his report from that day, which said the woman suspected her sister’s ex-boyfriend had something to do with her murder. She said he was in a bad mood when he drank. She said he had been upset recently and claimed he had been tricked into believing her four-year-old daughter was his child. A paternity test had recently been taken and the child was not his.
We contacted the Pennsylvania State Police in Harrisburg and were told they do not comment on pending litigation.
PSP lawyers today pointed out in court the role that the public prosecutor plays in investigations.
The process is expected to take about ten days.
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