T-L Photo/ ROBERT A. DEFRANK Dennis McNamara, defense attorney for Meredith Broome, gives his closing arguments in the final day of trial Thursday. After five hours, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty to the charge of tampering with evidence, and were deadlocked regarding her charge of obstruction of justice.

By ROBERT A. DEFRANK

Times Leader Staff Writer

St. CLAIRSVILLE — The trial of Meredith Broome concluded with a verdict of not guilty on one charge and a deadlock on another Thursday.

Broome, 35, with an address in Rome, Georgia, was charged with tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony, and obstruction of justice, a fifth-degree felony, dating back to events that allegedly occurred in 2013. She is the step-daughter of murdered former Powhatan Point mayor and businessman Marvin Brown.

Broome’s mother, Deborah Doty Brown, is Marvin Brown’s widow. She was convicted and has served a three-year sentence for theft from Marvin Brown’s business. She has since been released from prison. Broome was accused of attempting to conceal her mother’s theft by trying to prevent a meeting between Marvin Brown and an accountant in 2013.

Belmont County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Kevin Flanagan argued that Broome approached a friend and asked her to impersonate the accountant’s secretary and read a message scripted by Deborah Doty Brown to Marvin Brown’s voicemail, canceling the meeting.

The three-day trial saw testimony from the accountant, investigators, one of Marvin Brown’s sons, and a drug dealer. Broome took the stand in her own defense and denied any knowledge of her mother’s thefts.

During closing arguments, Flanagan said the case hinged on Broome having knowledge or her mother’s crimes in 2013 and attempting to conceal them. He said for this reason, the state’s witnesses included a man who sold prescription pills to Broome and her mother, with Broome sometimes purchasing for Deborah Doty Brown.

“That money, that $40 per pill, had to come from somewhere,” Flanagan said. “We’re talking about Meredith Broome facilitating huge amounts of money. … That money had to come from somewhere. … You can’t be spending that much money, and not wonder where that money is coming from.”

Flanagan also played a clip from a recorded interview of Broome by law enforcement in March or 2018, when Broome referred to the events of 2013, saying her mother did not want to go to the appointment with the accountant.

“Meredith Broome knew that it was criminal based on the request alone,” he said. “Do you think Meredith Broome and her mother went through the extent of this elaborate ruse to cancel a meeting simply because Deborah Brown didn’t want to go?”

Broome’s attorney, Dennis McNamara, challenged the state’s case in his closing arguments.

“I think you’ll find I don’t have any holes in the logic of the things I tell you,” he said. “The state’s case has holes you could drive a semi (truck) through.”

He said while there is no dispute about what Broome did, the question is what she knew and when she knew it. He added that while her mother struggled with drug addiction and gambling, Broome believed Deborah Doty Brown did not want Marvin Brown to know about those addiction issues.

“If that minute or two (of recorded interview) is the best they’ve got, they’ve got nothing,” McNamara said, adding that the ATM withdraws were done by Deborah Doty Brown, and Broome cashed checks at her mother’s request. “Nobody knew (Deborah Doty Brown) was stealing that money except (Deborah Doty Brown).”

McNamara added that to be guilty of tampering with evidence, Broome would have to know that an investigation is in progress, about to be or likely to be instituted.

“If she doesn’t know there’s a theft, she certainly doesn’t know there’s an investigation of theft coming,” he said.

He said the prosecution’s argument was that trying to have the false call made Broome was attempting to prevent the discovery of a crime, but the that accountant testified that the scheduled meeting was not to go over the construction company books, but how to adjust the accounting for oil and gas revenue.

“This wasn’t an event that would cause Deborah concern,” he said, adding that the false call was apparently never made, and that Deborah Doty Brown called to cancel the appointment, but rescheduled it for 10 days later.

The jury deliberated for about five hours. About halfway through these deliberations, the jurors informed Belmont County Common Pleas Judge John Vavra that they had not yet reached agreement on both charges. Vavra asked the jury to continue deliberations.

“This is a new and difficult assignment for all of you,” he said. “You are selected in the same manner and from the same source as any future jury would be selected. There’s not reason to believe that a case will ever be submitted to a jury more capable, more impartial or more intelligent than all of you are. Likewise there’s no reason to believe that more or clearer evidence will be produced by either side in the event there will be a future trial.”

The jury later returned its verdict of not guilty in the tampering count, but the jurors remained deadlocked in the count of obstructing justice.

Broome is set to appear in court again April 1, where the prosecution will inform the court if there will be further proceedings in the obstruction case.

“I’m disappointed that they could not reach an agreement on the second count. Obviously it’s been a long year for Meredith Broome, with the trial and the trips back and forth from where she lives now in Georgia, and we would have of course preferred that it all be done,” McNamara said afterward. “Those two charges are so related, I really expected the verdicts to be the same on both. There are very small differences between tampering with evidence and obstructing justice. They overlap sort of. So I would have guess maybe all or none.”

He said they will await the April hearing.

“The prosecutor has a right to try her over again on the charge where the jury was deadlocked,” McNamara said. “It might depend too on the jury vote. I don’t know what it was … but if there’s 11 ‘not guiltys’ and one ‘guilty,’ he probably won’t.”

Flanagan could not be reached afterward for further comment.