Now 21, Brown, who spent more than. Two of the statements did not show that Brown was guilty, and the others were built on lies that were fed to her by the investigators. She never testified under oath. And with the focus on his sons legal plight, Chris Brown said his grief for the loss of his fiance and their unborn baby had to take a backseat. As for the shotgun shell casing police found near the driveway, Colafella said, On that property where they lived on a farm, there were shotgun shells all over the place. Naturally, I hugged her . People will believe what they want to believe, but Jordan was innocent. I would not bet that she can recall time and detail to provide evidence for the case. You can customize your WPXI News App to receive breaking news alerts. Seriously the alibi for the ex boyfriend that threatened to kill her was he had some snow on his truck still..give me a break. After some research I do believe he killed her. Kenzie Houk is seen here with one of her daughters in this undated family photo. Chris Brown said he drove every day, 230 miles roundtrip, to see his son at the center. As time went on they completely abandoned that statement, which would have been the strongest evidence in the case, and rather tried to pursue a prosecution based upon this forensic evidence.. The next day, state police arrested Brown, who was a fifth-grader at the time. Brown, now nearly 23, said this week he hopes the lawsuit will be the definitive finding of his innocence as well as providing some compensation for his father, Chris Brown, who paid child support, taxes, lawyers fees and expenses to travel more than 100 miles every day to see him while he was incarcerated. The farmhouse in Wampum, Pa. where Kenzie Houk was killed. On Wednesday, the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court overturned the conviction of Jordan Brown, who was convicted of murdering his fathers pregnant fiance in 2009 when he was just 11 years old. As the years passed, Jordan Brown said he spent much of his time absorbed in the books his father brought him, reading with a dictionary next to him. A man has been jailed for 21 years and his partner for a minimum of 29 years over the torture and killing of his six-year-old son, Arthur Labinjo-Hughes. All I remember was they came and got me at 3:00 in the morning, Jordan Brown said. That's where the case took us. Learn about careers at Cox Media Group. Jordan Brown, now 17, insists he is innocent despite being convicted of killing his father's pregnant fiancee in 2009. . At that point, we assumed that somehow she had hemorrhaged, Martin told 20/20. We didn't touch her, we didn't move her. And her phone rang.. [They] put me in the back of the car and they took me to the police barracks. Investigators on the case told "20/20" in that rural area of Pennsylvania, Its fairly common, most especially young males would grow up with learning to shoot firearms.. The state Attorney General said Houk had been killed by a youth-model Harrington & Richardson 20-gauge shotgun that Brown had received as a Christmas gift from his father, with Pennsylvania State Police reporting finding a spent shotgun shell near the path the 11-year-old walked to get to his school bus the morning . Judge Hodge adjudicated the now-15-year-old Jordan Brown to be delinquent (the juvenile court equivalent of a guilty verdict). Houks older daughter, then 7, also said she had heard a loud noise in the house around the time of the shooting. Brown, who initially was charged as an . His father backed up his alibi, confirming Harveys story that he was home with them. We did not get this wrong, McGraw told 20/20. There is not a trooper on scene that day that has lost one second of sleep over this case.. I gave him every opportunity. It's such a small window and such an unlikely set of circumstances that one, he found out where she lived. They investigated for eight hours then charged an 11-year-old as an adult. What happened to me is so horrible, even though when I was young I would say I didnt understand what was happening I look back and see all the blatant injustices, and that angers me, he said. I am a step dad to twin 12 year old girls, a 7 year old and a 4 year old for the past 3 years. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in 2018 ruled prosecutors did not provide enough evidence to support a conviction and Brown was exonerated at the age of 20. And I'll say it. The father-son duo was as close as possible and often spent their weekends hunting in the nearby woods. I have never looked back that we arrested the wrong person, in my opinion. Two years later that resulted in the July 18, 2018 Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling. 11 is not too young to wield a shotgun, and we dont know anything about his interactions with his dads fianc. The two of them, plus Browns then-11-year-old son Jordan and Houks two daughters, then-7-year-old daughter Jenessa and then-4-year-old daughter Adalynn, all from their previous relationships, had recently all moved in together in a farmhouse. There was a small amount of gun residue on Jordan's jacket, explained by his lawyers as being from a hunt the boy had been on a few days prior. Boy who killed dad's pregnant fiancee to get juvenile review. Around 8:15 a.m., Jordan said he and Jenessa left the house to catch the school bus. Brown then drove off in a black . (This account of the case is pulled from reports by ABC News, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Post-Gazette and available court documents.). Pay for the crime that you did, Deborah Houk said in a phone interview Wednesday. Sometime shortly after, one of the tree trimmers spotted little Adalynn in the doorway, sobbing and saying her mother was dead. Her family says Adalynn shared bits of her story over the years, but its something neither police nor Jordans defense team have ever heard. Alan's stepmother, Rosalind L. Brown, and her brother, Montel Pettiford, were eventually convicted of his murder. I believe, I always have, that the attorney generals office and state police rushed to judgment, said Elisco. A 7 yaer old probably wont be able to put 2+2 together. Lawsuit claims evidence fabricated in case of man exonerated in pregnant stepmothers murder Lawsuit claims evidence fabricated in case of man exonerated in pregnant stepmothers murder. In fact, the prosecutions forensics expert had testified that these particles can be transferred. She was interviewed four times in 14 hours after her mothers death, according to the lawsuit. Emma Tustin, 32, murdered the boy by . By then, Bongivengo had been replaced by a different prosecutor. The lawsuit claims the only evidence against Brown was a coerced and fabricated statement of his soon-to-be stepsister, who was 7-years-old at the time. Before watching Stephanie's video, I had very little knowledge about the case besides seeing his mugshot around the internet and people labeling him as one of the youngest killer. In a split panel decision dated September 1, 2016, titled In re J.B. III, 147 A.3d 1204 (Pa.Super. And that's when we realized that it was a homicide.. Justices said in their 2018 decision that prosecutors presented largely circumstantial and insufficient evidence, saying among other things in trial testimony that a 20-gauge shotgun in Browns bedroom was the murder weapon actually supported an equally reasonable conclusion that it was not used in the murder. Its been a nightmare for nine-and-a-half years, Chris Brown said. Teen gets new hearing in case of woman's killing. He was almost 21 when Pennsylvania's highest. Jon Venables and Robert Thompson were only 10 when they killed that poor toddler. I guess you could speculate that. Dr. Todd Grande 1.26M subscribers Subscribe 394K views 1 year ago This video answers the question: Can I analyze the. The investigators were excited to have a sensational murder case, and once their minds were made up they did not collect additional physical evidence because they were sure they had their killer. Chicago Bulls' Michael Jordan serves his father, James, a slice of birthday cake as his mother, Doloris, watches during a party for Jordan's 26th birthday in Chicago, on Feb. 17, 1989. A week has passed since Roy Oliver, a Balch Springs police officer, shot his rifle through the window of a car and killed 15-year-old Jordan. On May 1, 2011, hours after a meeting of the neo-Nazi group at Hall's house in Southern California, the boy took his father's revolver from the upstairs bedroom where his stepmother was sleeping. Dispensary owner Alden Linn said the impact of Brown's death has been felt . This is my first comment on Reddit. Paula Scarlett-Brown, the widow of Pilgrim Assemblies International founder Archbishop Roy E. Brown, told the New York Post on Sunday that she and Brown's daughter, Tiwana Brown, had a major fight over the minister's body just hours after his death on June 2. Where is any evidence showing abuses by the son towards his stepmom. Time flew when you were reading.. The Jordan Brown case involves Jordan Brown (born August 12, 1997), who was initially charged at 11 as an adult in the fatal shooting of his father's fiance, Kenzie Marie Houk, 26, in New Beaver, Pennsylvania, which occurred on the morning of February 20, 2009. [7][8][9][10] Judge Hodge held that Brown's juvenile hearing would not be open to the public or to the news media. The coroner determined Lily had died at least two hours before her stepmother . She wanted financial support payments for Adalynn but he had refused, saying he first wanted proof that the child was his. A juvenile court judge later found Brown guilty of first-degree murder and homicide of an unborn child. This is precisely what would have had to have happened, Colafella added. ", https://wandervogeldiary.wordpress.com/tag/jordan-brown-innocent/. Presiding Judge Dominick Motto of the Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, Common Pleas Court initially denied decertification and transfer to juvenile court because Jordan would not admit his involvement in the crime. >>PREVIOUS STORY: Jordan Browns father speaks out after sons murder conviction overturned. Its difficult to charge an 11-year-old with homicide. Houk, who was eight months pregnant at the time. Yes kids will add to their story but that is because of their recollection process but adults do too. CINCINNATI (FOX19) - A 28-year-old man was gunned down in Avondale late Wednesday, Cincinnati police said. Jordan Brown was a fifth-grader in February 2009 when Pennsylvania police arrived to take him away as the sole suspect in the shotgun slaying of his dad's pregnant fiance, Kenzie Houk. NEW CASTLE - Jordan Brown, charged at age 11 with killing his father's pregnant fiancee, is now fighting back against the legal system that jailed him. 2023 Cox Media Group. Though Mr. Houk fully believes that Brown is the murderer, another possible suspect has been considered. The shooting happened at their home in Wampum, Lawrence County. The 5-0 supreme court ruling exonerated Brown of all charges, overturning earlier findings by a Lawrence County Juvenile Court Judge that were upheld by the states appellate court. I remember when this all happened and just read up on everything that has happened since (I had an idea that he was out of prison, but had NO idea that his conviction was overturned based on insufficient evidence). Though life had taken them in different directions for a while, they reconnected and were getting ready to officially tie the knot, and give birth to a baby boy they had already named Christopher. And I had no idea where we were going. And none of us wanted to put handcuffs on an 11-year-old. Trooper McGraw believed Jordan threw the shell to the ground as he was walking to the bus the morning of the murders. It's almost inconceivable that you could suggest that a shotgun was fired at close range wouldn't deposit any tissue, any blood on the barrel of the gun or on his clothing, which he wore to school, Elisco said. And I don't know if that happened in this case, Martin said. The Pennsylvania Superior Court rejected an appeal by three area newspapers (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and New Castle News) to overturn Hodge's ruling and open the hearing to the public. The blended family seemed to be bonding. I just watched the 20/20 episode. Kenzie Houk was eight months pregnant when she was shot in the back of the head while she was sleeping in bed in their western Pennsylvania farmhouse. The 25-year-old criminal was born in Pennsylvania, United States. According to the 20/20 episode, there was no blood or tissue on the gun, and the police didn't even dust for fingerprints on the door to the house. Interviewing those involved, with the goal of finding out who killed Jordan and why? In 1985, David Arnold Brown masterminded a twisted plot to have his 14-year-old daughter, Cinnamon, kill his wife, Linda, to collect almost a million dollars in life insurance. They also pointed out the lack of an eyewitness or credible forensic evidence as reasons for the decision. TribLIVE's Daily and Weekly email newsletters deliver the news you want and information you need, right to your inbox. Emily's Death: Died September 18, 1979. A never-ending shadow of shock and grief embarked upon the Brown family in February of 2009, after the lady of the house, Kenzie Marie Houk, was shot dead and their 11-year-old son, Jordan Brown, was held accountable for the murder. The ruling in particular objected to the assumption, made by the juvenile court, that no one else but Jordan could have shot Houk. Houk,. Under Pennsylvania Law, those who are under 15 and being tried as an adult are sentenced to life with parole after 25 years. 21-year-old Jordan Brown talks for the first time about going to jail as a boy for a crime he says he didn't commit in an interview with ABC News' Juju Chang. The daily journey, however, wreaked havoc on his finances, Chris Brown said. I hope the state police reopen their investigation and actually try to take their blinders off and find out whoever did this so that that family can have some closure and some justice.. 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