Convict seeks new trial

YOUNGSTOWN - With an execution date less than a month away, the attorneys for convicted killer Mark Brown are trying to convince a judge that the trial that ended in 1996 needs to be held again.

Brown's attorneys from the public defender's office were in the courtroom of Judge Maureen Sweeney Friday morning arguing that one of the prosecution's key witnesses in the trial lied under oath after being pressured by a former prosecutor who was later jailed on corruption charges.

Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul Gains responded to the defense's claim by continuing to attack the credibility of witness Myzelle Arrington. The hearing will continue on Tuesday.

Brown was found guilty for the 1994 shooting deaths of store clerks Isam Salman and Hayder Al Turk at the Midway Market on the North Side. He was given the death sentence for killing Salman and is scheduled to die Feb. 4.

Brown, who denies killing Salman but admits to killing Al Turk, told the parole board last week that the killings happened after the clerks made a comment to him when he dropped a baggie containing drugs on the store counter while attempting to pay for cigars. He said he was drinking wine laced with valium with several other people the night of the killing.

Although a witness for the prosecution in the first trial, Arrington testified Friday that he felt threatened by police to identify a suspect in a photo lineup. Arrington, who said he was a member of the Bloods street gang, was present with Brown that night. Arrington assumed Brown was a member of the Crips street gang because of his blue bandanna.

"The detectives came at me like I was a suspect. I thought I would be charged with something," Arrington told the court.

He said the police gave him two sets of photo lineups, which contained a picture of Brown. Arrington told the court that he picked the picture of Brown because it had a mark on the back of it. In a 2003 letter to Brown in prison, Arrington told the inmate he had made up the testimony.

"I didn't see anything," Arrington said, claiming that he was three our four houses away from the market at the time he heard the gunshots.

Arrington - who had been through the juvenile court system several times - claimed he felt he could get a deal from former Mahoning County Prosecutor Jim Philomena if he lied under oath. The defense stated that he was sentenced to 45 days for shooting at a girlfriend's house.

Gains argued that Arrington received no favors from the prosecutor who was later sent to jail on corruption charges, although Arrington tried. Gains pointed out that Arrington served a six month sentence on a drug charge.

"There was no special treatment. You got shipped," Gains told Arrington.

Gains went on to read a letter Arrington wrote to Philomena in 1995 in which Arrington said he was willing to testify against Brown in return for help.

"I can help keep him off the streets. ... I feel that he's a threat to the community and to my family," the letter stated.

Brown's attorney Pamela Prude-Smithers asked Arrington if it would be normal for members of the rival gangs to help each other out, to which Arrington said no. She also asked if Arrington understood he could be tried for perjury and taken away from his children now that he claimed he was lying during the original trial. Arrington said he was.

In a report released by the Ohio Parole Board this week, the board unanimously voted against recommending that Gov. Ted Strickland commute Brown's sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

brodgers@tribtoday.com