More than six years after he was exonerated based on insufficient evidence, a man who was charged as an 11-year-old with shooting his father's pregnant fiancee to death wants a federal jury to make the Pennsylvania State Police pay for the years he spent in juvenile detention.
Jordan Brown's federal civil rights case is expected to get underway in Pittsburgh early next month, nearly 16 years after he was first accused of the February 2009 death of Kenzie Marie Houk inside their rented farmhouse in Wampum, Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania is among about a dozen states that do not have wrongful conviction compensation laws, leaving a lawsuit as Brown's legal option to seek compensation for claims that four former troopers fabricated reports and manufactured evidence.
Brown, now 27, was adjudicated delinquent in juvenile court of first-degree murder and the homicide of an unborn child. He had been released from custody at age 18 before the state Supreme Court in July 2018 reversed his conviction .
The four former troopers - one now deceased - that were named in the lawsuit had leading roles in the murder investigation, conducting interviews and drafting the affidavit of probable cause used to charge Brown. They are being sued over allegations they violated his federal civil rights by filing charges that lacked probable cause and fabricating evidence. State police spokesperson Myles Snyder said the agency, following policy on pending litigation, would not comment on the lawsuit.
