GEORGIA
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By DAVID SIMPSON
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/08/05
Lawyers for Troy Brown plan to file a motion today to try to restore a short-lived appeals court victory for the Lithonia minister, who is serving a 70-year prison sentence for molesting a 15-year-old boy.
A three-judge panel of the Georgia Court of Appeals reversed Brown's conviction on July 8, but the same judges reconsidered the case and upheld the conviction July 28.
Defense lawyer Greg Lohmeier said Brown will ask the court to consider the case for a third time in a motion today. If that motion fails, Brown will appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court, Lohmeier said.
The Court of Appeals rulings hinged on the testimony of a witness who said Brown sexually assaulted him when he was 15 in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1996. The man was one of four who accused Brown of abuse and were called by prosecutors to support the claim of the 15-year-old in the 2002 trial.
Defense lawyers argued Superior Court Judge Cynthia Becker should not have prevented them from cross-examining the witness about whether he might have lied about Brown to cover up a prior homosexual relationship. Becker ruled such questions were barred by Georgia's rape shield law, which prevents the use of the sexual history of rape victims.