Jordan Brown's conviction in murder of father's pregnant fiancée overturned

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania's highest court is overturning the conviction of a then-11-year-old boy in the 2009 shotgun slaying of his father's pregnant fiancée, saying prosecutors didn't provide enough evidence to support it.

PREVIOUS STORY: Teen convicted of killing father's fiancée, unborn child released from juvenile detention

The state Supreme Court's 5-0 ruling Wednesday reversed a finding by a juvenile court judge in Lawrence County, upheld by a state appellate court, that Jordan Brown was guilty of first-degree murder and homicide of an unborn child beyond a reasonable doubt.

Channel 11's Marlisa Goldsmith contacted Brown's family, who did not want to comment.

Brown, now 20, was charged in the slaying of 26-year-old Kenzie Houk, who was eight months pregnant.

Prosecutors claimed Brown shot Houk in the head, then went to school.

Justices attacked the evidence as insufficient, saying among other things that trial evidence pointing to a shotgun in Brown's bedroom as the murder weapon supported an equally reasonable conclusion that it wasn't the murder weapon.

Brown was released to his uncle, who lived in Ohio, in 2016.

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Channel 11 has contacted the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office to find out what happens next in the case.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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