Feb. 19--An Allegheny County Common Pleas judge today ordered that a man convicted of second-degree murder in the 1995 deaths of three Pittsburgh firefighters receive a new trial.
Within 30 minutes of the decision being announced, the prosecution filed its notice of appeal to the state Superior Court.
Greg Brown, 36, was found guilty of murder, arson and conspiracy following a jury trial in 1997. He was sentenced to three consecutive life prison terms.
But his attorneys claimed in a petition filed more than three years ago that one of the key witnesses against him -- a juvenile offender with whom he was placed -- was offered a $15,000 reward by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives if he testified that he heard Brown confess to committing the crime.
At trial, the witness, Ibrahim Abdullah, did say that, but when asked if he had been promised any financial benefit, he said he had not.
Ultimately, Mr. Abdullah was paid $5,000.
Brown's attorneys have said their client did not receive a fair trial because of the prosecution's failure to turn over exculpatory information.
Brown, who was 17, at the time of the fire the night of Feb. 14, 1995, on Bricelyn Street in Brushton, is being held at the Allegheny County Jail, but has been incarcerated since his arrest in April 1996.
Brown said he and his mother had left the home to go the grocery at the time the blaze began.
Firefighters Thomas Brooks, 42, Patricia Conroy, 43, and Marc Kolenda, 27, were killed when they became trapped in a lower-level family room after stairs collapsed. They died of smoke inhalation when their air tanks ran out.
Prosecutors claimed that Brown and his mother, Darlene Buckner, started the fire to collect insurance money.
Buckner was charged with murder, arson and conspiracy, and insurance fraud, but the jury found her guilty only on the fraud count.
She was sentenced to three years of probation.
Judge Williams, who delivered his decision in an open, packed courtroom, spoke for less than five minutes.
He said the case before him was about the credibility of witnesses, not about the underlying facts of the fire.
"Nor is this case about the guilty or innocence, because that issue is not before me."
After explaining how he noted the tone, inflection and body language of those who testified in the May 2012 hearing on the petition, Judge Williams said, "Mr. Brown, I believe your witnesses."
In his 32-page opinion, Judge Williams said that he agreed with both defense arguments that the government's failure to disclose reward payments to the witnesses could have changed the jury's verdict in the trial, and that the government failed to correct the information even though it knew it was false.
Dave Fawcett, one of Brown's attorneys, reacted with joy to the decision.
"We believe the evidence is clear that there was not an arson to begin with, and there was no evidence linking Greg Brown to the fire whatsoever."
"We're so thankful that we're in the place we are now," he said. "There's hope here. There's hope for justice, and that's as much as we can ask for in this one good day."
Paula Reed Ward: [email protected] or 412-263-2620.
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