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www.post-gazette.com/pg/09084/958103-455.stm
Boy to face homicides trial
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
By Sadie Gurman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The homicide suspect is a short, pudgy-faced 11-year-old boy.
Yesterday he seemed smaller still, shrouded by a pair of uniformed guards who led him into a Lawrence County courtroom. For more than two hours, he sat quietly in a wooden arm chair, his narrow wrists bound by handcuffs; his ankles trussed with shackles. His ruddy face appeared calm. He didn't speak.
For many in the crowded courtroom, yesterday's preliminary hearing was the first time they had seen Jordan Brown since police charged the fifth-grader with fatally shooting his father's pregnant fiancee. The victim, Kenzie Houk, 26, was shot as she lay in bed in the New Beaver farmhouse she shared with the boy, his father and her two daughters.
District Judge David Rishel yesterday ordered Jordan to stand trial on two counts of homicide, including the killing of an unborn child, after a throng of state troopers and witnesses offered glimpses into the Feb. 20 slaying.
Jordan showed no emotion during the hearing and did not react to Judge Rishel's ruling.
Jordan's attorneys, Dennis Elisco and David Acker, said they will seek to move the case to juvenile court, but are awaiting more evidence, including blood test results and further inspection of a 20-gauge shotgun police said was the murder weapon.
Seated with a dozen relatives, Ms. Houk's mother, Deborah, wept softly, dabbing her eyes with tissue. Jordan's father, Chris Brown, a burly man in a black suit, listened stoically from a pew on the opposite side of the room.
Trooper Andrew Pannelle said he noticed "the smell of a freshly fired shotgun," when a sergeant examined a shotgun found among several other guns in a corner of Jordan's bedroom. Police have said Jordan used the shotgun, a youth-model he got for Christmas, to shoot Ms. Houk in the back of the head.
Trooper Troy Steinheiser said lab tests revealed gunshot residue on a shirt Jordan was wearing the day of the killing. Similar residue also was found on a pair of jeans taken from Jordan the same night, the trooper said.
Lawrence County District Attorney John Bongivengo said he considered gunshot residue on Jordan's clothes some of the strongest evidence against him.
But Mr. Acker said it doesn't necessarily link him to the slaying. Jordan often went hunting and shooting with his father, he said, and could have gotten the residue on his clothes by brushing up against a gun.
"We need a forensic scientist to tell us what the importance of the gunshot residue evidence is," Mr. Acker said.
Trooper Janice Wilson testified that Jordan told her on the day of the killing that he saw a suspicious black pickup truck near their home that morning before he went to school. But, she said, his story about the truck changed several times before his arrest. She also asked Jordan about his guns, and he told her he sometimes fired the 20-gauge shotgun outside with his father.
"I asked him if he had fired it that day, and he said 'No,'" Trooper Wilson said. "He hesitated, and then repeated, 'no' again."
Jordan also said that he, Ms. Houk, and her daughters, Adalynn, 4, and Jenessa, 7, were the only ones home on the morning of the crime. Mr. Brown, he said, had left for work. Jordan said he woke up, put on clothes that he retrieved from his mother's room, and left for the bus with Jenessa about 8:13 a.m., Trooper Wilson said.
Adalynn, who discovered the body just before 10 a.m. and told a group of nearby tree-trimmers, was "in a state of shock, running about the house in a frenzy" and could not be interviewed, Trooper Wilson said.
Ms. Houk's father, Jack, testified that Jordan, among other family members, was a skilled shooter and had competed in a local turkey shoot two weeks before her death.
The Houks have said Jordan was jealous of Ms. Houk, whose full-term baby would have been named Christopher, after his father. Jordan's attorneys have denied there was any animosity.
After the hearing, Jordan's attorneys said the prosecution's forensic evidence was lacking. Mr. Bongivengo said he presented "more than enough" evidence to show probable cause that a crime was committed.
"I haven't heard anything here today that convinces me," Mr. Acker said. "Today hasn't given me any more information."
He and Mr. Elisco said that Jordan is thriving at the Edmund L. Thomas Adolescent Detention Center in Erie, where he returned yesterday. He has been there since the beginning of this month.
For Jordan to be tried as a juvenile, his attorneys will have to prove he is "amenable to juvenile treatment," Mr. Bongivengo said, relying on factors such as his maturity level, the nature of the crime and what rehabilitation treatment he will undergo, among other criteria.
If he is convicted as an adult, he will serve a mandatory life sentence.
Sadie Gurman can be reached at sgurman@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1878.
First published on March 25, 2009 at 12:00 am
Boy to face homicides trial
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
By Sadie Gurman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The homicide suspect is a short, pudgy-faced 11-year-old boy.
Yesterday he seemed smaller still, shrouded by a pair of uniformed guards who led him into a Lawrence County courtroom. For more than two hours, he sat quietly in a wooden arm chair, his narrow wrists bound by handcuffs; his ankles trussed with shackles. His ruddy face appeared calm. He didn't speak.
For many in the crowded courtroom, yesterday's preliminary hearing was the first time they had seen Jordan Brown since police charged the fifth-grader with fatally shooting his father's pregnant fiancee. The victim, Kenzie Houk, 26, was shot as she lay in bed in the New Beaver farmhouse she shared with the boy, his father and her two daughters.
District Judge David Rishel yesterday ordered Jordan to stand trial on two counts of homicide, including the killing of an unborn child, after a throng of state troopers and witnesses offered glimpses into the Feb. 20 slaying.
Jordan showed no emotion during the hearing and did not react to Judge Rishel's ruling.
Jordan's attorneys, Dennis Elisco and David Acker, said they will seek to move the case to juvenile court, but are awaiting more evidence, including blood test results and further inspection of a 20-gauge shotgun police said was the murder weapon.
Seated with a dozen relatives, Ms. Houk's mother, Deborah, wept softly, dabbing her eyes with tissue. Jordan's father, Chris Brown, a burly man in a black suit, listened stoically from a pew on the opposite side of the room.
Trooper Andrew Pannelle said he noticed "the smell of a freshly fired shotgun," when a sergeant examined a shotgun found among several other guns in a corner of Jordan's bedroom. Police have said Jordan used the shotgun, a youth-model he got for Christmas, to shoot Ms. Houk in the back of the head.
Trooper Troy Steinheiser said lab tests revealed gunshot residue on a shirt Jordan was wearing the day of the killing. Similar residue also was found on a pair of jeans taken from Jordan the same night, the trooper said.
Lawrence County District Attorney John Bongivengo said he considered gunshot residue on Jordan's clothes some of the strongest evidence against him.
But Mr. Acker said it doesn't necessarily link him to the slaying. Jordan often went hunting and shooting with his father, he said, and could have gotten the residue on his clothes by brushing up against a gun.
"We need a forensic scientist to tell us what the importance of the gunshot residue evidence is," Mr. Acker said.
Trooper Janice Wilson testified that Jordan told her on the day of the killing that he saw a suspicious black pickup truck near their home that morning before he went to school. But, she said, his story about the truck changed several times before his arrest. She also asked Jordan about his guns, and he told her he sometimes fired the 20-gauge shotgun outside with his father.
"I asked him if he had fired it that day, and he said 'No,'" Trooper Wilson said. "He hesitated, and then repeated, 'no' again."
Jordan also said that he, Ms. Houk, and her daughters, Adalynn, 4, and Jenessa, 7, were the only ones home on the morning of the crime. Mr. Brown, he said, had left for work. Jordan said he woke up, put on clothes that he retrieved from his mother's room, and left for the bus with Jenessa about 8:13 a.m., Trooper Wilson said.
Adalynn, who discovered the body just before 10 a.m. and told a group of nearby tree-trimmers, was "in a state of shock, running about the house in a frenzy" and could not be interviewed, Trooper Wilson said.
Ms. Houk's father, Jack, testified that Jordan, among other family members, was a skilled shooter and had competed in a local turkey shoot two weeks before her death.
The Houks have said Jordan was jealous of Ms. Houk, whose full-term baby would have been named Christopher, after his father. Jordan's attorneys have denied there was any animosity.
After the hearing, Jordan's attorneys said the prosecution's forensic evidence was lacking. Mr. Bongivengo said he presented "more than enough" evidence to show probable cause that a crime was committed.
"I haven't heard anything here today that convinces me," Mr. Acker said. "Today hasn't given me any more information."
He and Mr. Elisco said that Jordan is thriving at the Edmund L. Thomas Adolescent Detention Center in Erie, where he returned yesterday. He has been there since the beginning of this month.
For Jordan to be tried as a juvenile, his attorneys will have to prove he is "amenable to juvenile treatment," Mr. Bongivengo said, relying on factors such as his maturity level, the nature of the crime and what rehabilitation treatment he will undergo, among other criteria.
If he is convicted as an adult, he will serve a mandatory life sentence.
Sadie Gurman can be reached at sgurman@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1878.
First published on March 25, 2009 at 12:00 am