Appeals court overturns sexual assault convictions against former Mt. Pleasant cop

An appeals court has overturned two sexual assault convictions against a former part-time Mt. Pleasant police officer, saying the cases were prosecuted in the wrong county.

A three-judge panel of the Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled allegations levied by two women who claimed they were sexually assaulted by John Brown, 49, of Mt. Lebanon, Allegheny County, in 2014 and 2015 should not have been heard by a Westmoreland County jury.

The appeals court upheld convictions against Brown in a third case that involved allegations made by a 25-year-old Irwin woman who claimed Brown attempted to rape her at a Donegal Township home in December 2015.

All three cases were consolidated and prosecuted in Westmoreland County when a Common Pleas judge ruled the cases were part of a continuing criminal act.

Superior Court judges said the judge erred in allowing the cases to be consolidated as part of one trial.

“There was no common factual background for each docket, nor any transactions or facts connecting each incident — aside from appellant himself as the actor. To this end, we further disagree that the incidents were temporally related. Instead, appellant committed the offenses generally several months apart, over a 21-month period,” the judges wrote.

Brown was convicted in 2020 of nine offenses, including four counts of indecent assault, two counts of involuntary deviant sexual intercourse and single counts of aggravated indecent assault and simple assault.

A 39-year-old Mt. Lebanon woman told jurors she read about Brown’s arrest following the Donegal incident and went to police about a similar incident she said occurred a year earlier. The woman testified at trial she met Brown at a wing and rib festival at North Park in September 2014, when she agreed to go with him to his parked vehicle and he assaulted her.

A third woman testified she was sexually assaulted by Brown outside an Emsworth bar in 2014.

In May 2021, Brown was sentenced to five to 10 years in prison.

The appeals court ordered that Brown be resentenced and said criminal charges related to the Allegheny County accusations could be refiled in that jurisdiction.

Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli, in a statement issued Wednesday, said no determination has been made as to a potential appeal of the Superior Court ruling.

“Our office is currently reviewing the opinion and all applicable law before making any decisions,” Ziccarelli said.