Pa. man can be re-tried on charges he set 1995 blaze that killed 3 firefighters, U.S. court says
Updated 12:58 PM;
A Pennsylvania man who was serving three consecutive life prison terms for the deaths of three firefighters in a 1995 blaze that investigators said he deliberately ignited can be retried after his initial convictions were overturned, a federal appeals court has ruled.
In making that call, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit rejected Gregory Brown’s argument that trying him again on murder and arson charges would violate the double jeopardy prohibition of the U.S. Constitution.
Paula Reed Ward
Tribune-Review
A memorial to Pittsburgh firefighters Marc Kolenda, Patricia Conroy and Capt. Thomas Brooks sits at the base of a flagpole outside of Engine 17 in Homewood, shown here in December 2015.
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A federal appellate court said Tuesday that prosecutors can retry a man whose conviction in the 1995 deaths of three firefighters in the East Hills was overturned.
In a 19-page opinion, the three judge-panel from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the federal retrial of Gregory Brown Jr., on a single charge of malicious destruction of property by fire resulting in death, does not violate his double jeopardy rights.