Trial set for former cop accused of rape, sex assaults

A last-minute bid Monday to stop jury selection from beginning next week in a rape case involving a suspended Mt. Pleasant Borough police officer was rejected by a Westmoreland County judge.

Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio said the attorney for John Andrew Brown, 47, of Mt. Lebanon, is prepared for trial after Brown raised concerns because a second counsel left the case last week.

“I think you have to trust your attorney,” Bilik-DeFazio said.

Brown asked that his trial be rescheduled to give defense attorney Valerie Veltri more time to prepare. Veltri said she didn’t need it, but allowed Brown to bring the issue up to the judge.

“I respect his concern because he’s the client and he’s the one that has to go on trial,” she said.

Brown is accused of raping and sexually assaulting six women in Westmoreland, Allegheny, Beaver and Erie counties. He was arrested by state police in 2016 after a woman claimed she was choked and raped at a Donegal Township apartment in December 2015. A year later, similar allegations surfaced from five other women who claim Brown assaulted them in the same manner between 2014 and 2015.

All of the cases are being tried together in Westmoreland County court. They have been delayed because of pretrial filings.

Brown expressed concern that his legal team was cut in half days before his trial is set to start. He was working as a part-time officer in Mt. Pleasant Borough at the time of his arrest.

“I don’t think it’s fair to me and I certainly don’t think it’s fair” to Veltri, he said. Veltri assured the judge and Brown that she is ready to go.

“I have always been prepared, your honor, that hasn’t been the issue, but I’m super concerned about how he feels,” she said.

Assistant District Attorney Leo Ciaramitaro said prosecutors plan to call 12 witnesses. He was working to contact all of the accusers in preparation for trial, which could last all week.