Man freed pending new trial in 1995 deaths of 3 firefighters
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PITTSBURGH (AP) — A man granted a new trial on charges he started a blaze that killed three Pittsburgh firefighters has been released from prison after 20 years behind bars.
Thirty-nine-year-old Gregory Brown Jr. walked out of the Allegheny County Jail, free from state custody for the first time since 1996, when he was charged in the fire at his mother’s East Hills home.
He told reporters: “I’m innocent. I’m happy to be out.”
Brown was convicted in 1997 of three second-degree murder counts in the 1995 blaze. The conviction was thrown out after the defense said prosecutors and a federal agent failed to turn over evidence that witnesses were offered money in exchange for their testimonies.
Prosecutors have now turned over jurisdiction to the federal courts, where Brown faces a retrial.