Man on trial for sex assault in Pa. says he has never been arrested

Prosecutors say Brown has been arrested several times, once for criminal homicide

May 15, 2008|By DON AINES

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- During his time on the stand Wednesday in Franklin County Court, Willie H. Brown testified that he never had been arrested in his life, a statement Public Defender Michael Toms offered him the chance to correct.

"Yes, sir," Brown said when asked if it was accurate.

"What about that arrest for criminal homicide in Florida?" asked Assistant District Attorney Lauren Sulcove on cross-examination.

Brown, on trial for charges that he sexually molested several girls at his Hackberry Drive home in Chambersburg, denied he had been arrested and testified that the 1994 killing was "self-defense."

Sulcove then asked Brown about three convictions on lesser crimes in Georgia and Florida between 1977 and 1997.

"This is all make up," Brown testified repeatedly, denying he was the same Willie Brown in the criminal record she cited.

Brown, 60, also accused the Chambersburg Police Department and the girls he is charged with molesting with having lied or planted evidence in the case, in which he is charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, attempted aggravated indecent assault, indecent assault and corruption of minors.

The eight girls include two sisters who testified Tuesday that Brown got them to perform sexual acts. The incidents took place when one of the girls was between the ages of 7 and 11 and the other between the ages of 7 and 8, Sulcove said.

Other teenage girls testified Tuesday that they smoked marijuana and cigarettes with Brown and that he touched some of them inappropriately.

Brown testified that he is in poor health, having had his fifth heart attack last year, surgery to implant a defibrillator and shoulder replacement surgery, and had in-home nursing care during much of the time police said he was molesting the girls. He also testified that he was impotent.

"As far as health goes, I'm just a walking dead man," Brown testified, saying he was helpless to keep children from coming into his house at all hours, using his computer and stealing money. He testified that police repeatedly ignored his pleas to remove children from his home.

A special agent with the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office testified Wednesday that 716 pornographic images were found on Brown's computer and it had been used to access one pornographic site 213 times prior to his May 2007 arrest.

Brown denied knowing how the images got on the computer. He also testified that he had no knowledge of where a photograph of a naked woman found in his house came from, a photo several of the girls testified that they saw.

In statements to police, Brown did not admit to specific acts with the girls, while telling them he needed help and fixing blame for what happened on the girls' parents, Detectives Scott Mummert and William Frisby testified.

Brown testified that Mummert threatened to kill him when was taken into custody and that he was asking for medical, not psychological, help. He testified that he was not read his Miranda rights until the day after he was taken into custody, although a signed and time-stamped form showed it happened the same night.

After Brown testified, Judge John R. Walker adjourned court for the day. Following closing arguments today, the case will go to the jury, he said.

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