Appeals Court Upholds New Trial In Firefighters' 1995 Deaths
PITTSBURGH (AP) - An appeals court has upheld a western Pennsylvania judge's decision to grant a new trial to a man in the deaths of three Pittsburgh firefighters two decades ago.
Thirty-seven-year-old Gregory Brown Jr. was sentenced to three life terms in the February 1995 fire that killed 42-year-old Capt. Thomas Brooks, 27-year-old Marc Kolenda and 43-year-old Patricia Conroy.
Allegheny County prosecutors alleged that he set the blaze for insurance money. Judge Joseph Williams ordered a new trial a year ago, saying prosecutors hadn't revealed that two witnesses in the case were paid reward money.
Two Pennsylvania Superior Court judges said the defendant had been "thwarted by the commonwealth's repeated denials that a reward had even been paid." One judge dissented, saying the issue of reward money was well-known in the community.
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