A man who was charged at the age of 11 with killing his father’s pregnant fiancée by shooting him wants a federal jury to hold the Pennsylvania State Police accountable for the years he spent in juvenile jail, more than six years after he was exonerated due to insufficient evidence.
Nearly 16 years after Jordan Brown was initially charged with the February 2009 death of Kenzie Marie Houk inside their leased farmhouse in Wampum, Pennsylvania, his federal civil rights case is scheduled to begin in Pittsburgh early next month.
A lawsuit is Brown’s only legal option to pursue compensation for allegations that four former troopers falsified reports and evidence because Pennsylvania is one of just a few states without wrongful conviction compensation provisions.
Brown, who is currently 27 years old, was found guilty of first-degree murder and the homicide of an unborn child in juvenile court. Before the California Supreme Court overturned his conviction in July 2018, he had been freed from detention at the age of 18.
In addition to conducting interviews and writing the affidavit of probable cause that was used to charge Brown, the four former troopers—one of whom is now deceased—named in the lawsuit played key roles in the murder investigation. They are being sued on claims that they fabricated evidence and filed charges without probable cause, violating his federal civil rights. According to state police spokeswoman Myles Snyder, the department will not comment on the case in accordance with its policy on pending litigation.
The troopers have maintained that they did not violate Brown’s constitutional rights or create or conceal any evidence. Given his perceived capacity and opportunity to commit the crime, as well as the fact that he was in possession of a 20-gauge shotgun, they have stated that they had probable cause to arrest him.
Brown is requesting compensation for his time in jail, lost income, emotional and mental suffering, and legal fees. Alec Wright, his lawyer, said Brown had spent three or four years in juvenile facilities before he was mature enough to understand his situation.
According to Wright, Jordan then has two choices. Either give in to the agony of missing out on family time, birthday celebrations, and freedom, or try your hardest to get through this circumstance, which your family claims has a limited duration. The latter was his choice.
According to the National Registry of Exonerations, since 1989, exonerees have received over 800 civil awards totaling approximately $3.3 billion, or about $325,000 for every year of unjust incarceration. According to the registry, Pennsylvania received 32 civil awards totaling $110 million.
Because the National Registry of Exonerations requires that there be some evidence in favor of the prisoner that was not offered at trial, Jordan Brown is not on the list. Due to insufficient evidence, his juvenile adjudication was revoked in this instance.
The exoneration compensation database’s curator, Jeffrey Gutman, a law professor at George Washington University, said it’s difficult to think of a more terrible experience than being found guilty of a crime you didn’t do. For something you didn’t do, you’ve lost your freedom, your job, your family ties, and maybe your health—often for decades. Therefore, society owes a remedy to those who have suffered a horrible roll of the dice.
Houk, 26, and her two daughters, ages 4 and 7, were living with Jordan and his father, Chris Brown, when Houk was shot and killed in her bed. Chris Brown was ruled out as a suspect after leaving for work.
The theory put up by police and prosecutors was that Houk was killed by Jordan Brown, a fifth-grader at the time, using a youth model, 20-gauge shotgun just before he and Houk’s 7-year-old daughter were to leave their snow-covered driveway to catch the school bus in the morning.
Around 9 a.m. on February 20, 2009, a team gathering firewood noticed Houk’s 4-year-old daughter sobbing at the front door, which led to the discovery of the shooting. Although Brown’s case was later transferred to juvenile court, he was charged as an adult at three in the morning the following day. Brown was judged delinquent in 2012, which is Pennsylvania’s juvenile equivalent of a conviction.
According to Jennifer Kraner, Houk’s sister, she was present in the juvenile courthouse during hearings against Brown and thinks he committed the crime.
Evidently, justice will never be served to bring her back, Kraner stated. However, we don’t feel comfortable with his becoming a millionaire as a result. It seems completely absurd.
Investigators interviewed the 7-year-old, and the conversations provided a crucial piece of prosecution evidence. According to the lawsuit, the girl claimed to have seen Jordan Brown carrying two pistols and to have heard a loud boom before Jordan emerged and they boarded the bus.
In the case, Brown contended that the interviews were untrustworthy due to their many discrepancies and inconsistencies.
In a majority ruling, the Texas Supreme Court released Brown, ruling that detectives had not found any eyewitnesses, fingerprint or DNA evidence, or bodily material on the boy’s clothing.
Although Houk’s ex-boyfriend had recently moved 10 miles (16 kilometers) away from her house, police looked into him but ruled him out as a suspect. According to the lawsuit, he had confronted Houk’s parents at a bar the night before Houk was slain, and Houk had informed him that a paternity test revealed that his 4-year-old daughter was not his child.
Although he denied it in evidence at Brown’s juvenile court hearing, the lawsuit claims the ex-boyfriend threatened to kill Houk and several of her family members.
The ex-boyfriend informed police in a voluntary interview that he had been in his parents’ basement after 10 p.m. the night before Houk was killed, according to a 2014 state Supreme Court summary of the case. According to Brown’s testimony, he left the following morning at around nine in the morning to return an automobile part to a retailer.
According to the court summary, there was still snow on his truck, which investigators said would not have survived the drive to the house where Houk was killed, and a test of his hands revealed no gunshot residue.
On the morning of the murder, Brown reported to authorities that he spotted a black pickup truck on the property, which matched the ex-boyfriend’s Ford F-150. Since his client was released by the state Supreme Court, Wright feels that no inquiry into the murder has taken place. Joshua Lamancusa, the district attorney for Lawrence County, did not respond to a message requesting comment.
Brown told The Associated Press that he believed a positive verdict would eliminate any remaining questions about his innocence when the lawsuit was filed four years ago.
According to him, you don’t win a lawsuit over injustice for no cause.
According to Wright, Brown is currently managing a beer distribution business in western Pennsylvania alongside his father and intends to complete his college education.
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