5 Browns Dad Faces Sexual Abuse Charges

[Hellsbells]

SALT LAKE CITY - A family of classical musicians that won widespread acclaim and appeared on some of the nation's top talk shows has been rocked by dual tragedies - their parents were hurt in a horrific crash that came after their father was accused of sexually abusing his three daughters in the group.

The 5 Browns are a piano group from Utah that features the three sisters and their two brothers. The Juilliard-trained siblings' CDs have topped the Billboard classical music charts and their concerts often sellout in all 50 states and in Japan, Germany, France, Korea, Mexico and England.

Their critical and popular acclaim has led to appearances on "Oprah," "The View" and other shows, and a profile by "60 Minutes."

The family patriarch, Keith Brown, survived the crash and faces one first-degree felony count of sodomy on a child and two second-degree felony counts of sexual abuse of a child, according to Fourth District Court records obtained Wednesday.

The records filed Feb. 10 in the abuse case don't identify any victim by name or indicate the relationship between Keith Brown and the alleged victims.

However, Kimball Thomson, a spokesman for The 5 Browns, said the charges involve Brown's daughters and group members Desirae, 32, Deondra, 30, and Melody, 26. He declined to release further information on the women.

"We can confirm that Keith Brown has been charged with sexual abuse involving his daughters," Thomson said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

Thomson said the Brown children severed their professional relationship with Keith Brown in October of 2008. He was once the manager of The 5 Browns but now has no connection, Thomson said.

Keith Brown and Lisa Brown, 54, the mother of the group members, were hospitalized after the Valentine's Day crash that mangled the Porsche beyond recognition in Little Cottonwood Canyon on the east side of the Salt Lake valley.

convicted, Keith Brown could face a sentence of up to life in prison on the first-degree felony and up to 15 years each on the second-degree felonies.

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pb...219790/-1/NEWS

[Hellsbells]

Father of music group members pleads guilty

PROVO, Utah (AP) -- The father of The 5 Browns musical group pleaded guilty Thursday to sexually abusing his daughters when they were children.

With scratches on his face from a car crash, 55-year-old Keith Brown entered his plea to three felony counts in Fourth District Court.

Dressed in dark slacks and a grey overcoat, Brown appeared in court with his sister-in-law by his side.

His response to the judge who asked for his plea on each charge was a barely audible, "guilty."

Court records show Utah County prosecutors charged Brown with one first-degree felony count of sodomy on a child and two second-degree felony counts of sexual abuse of a child.

Brown, who did not speak further during the hearing, could face a sentence of up to life in prison on the first-degree felony and up to 15 years each on the second-degree felonies.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...MPLATE=DEFAULT

[Mega Ultra]

Why the hell was the sister in law by his side???? Better yet, why was his wife spending valentines day with him? I'm sure she knew all along, then.

[Hellsbells]

Keith Brown sentenced to 10 years to life on one count, 1-15 on two others, to be served concurently

[Rockin Ma]

Keith Brown sentenced to 10 years to life on one count, 1-15 on two others, to be served concurently

I don't believe you. Where's the link?

J/k good news!

[Hellsbells]

I don't believe you. Where's the link?

Rockin Ma That was a tweet from outside the courtroom before there was a link

5 Browns father gets 10 to life for abusing daughters

Provo • A judge on Thursday sentenced the father of The 5 Browns family piano performance group to serve 10 years to life in prison for sexually abusing his daughters when they were children.

Keith Brown, 55, pleaded guilty in February to one first-degree felony count of sodomy on a child and two second-degree felony counts of sexual abuse of a child. Fourth District Judge David Mortensen ordered him to serve 10 years to life in prison on the felony count, and one to 15 years on the other two counts, but both sentences will run concurrently.

Mortensen handed down the sentence after saying, "I think it’s obvious a home should be a refuge and a safe place, and that a parent should be a protector."

Mortensen told Brown he believes Brown is a pedophile and a danger to society. But the judge also told Brown he was being given a lighter sentence "through the consent of your victims."

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/51...abuse.html.csp

[totallytoddler]

But the judge also told Brown he was being given a lighter sentence"through the consent of your victims."

Sooooo his daughters asked the judge for a lighter sentence for the asshole that sexually abused them as children? their father? Who raped them? REALLY? Did I read that wrong?

[Dakota Valkyrie]

The gall of this guy! Claiming he was discombobulated because of the accident days before his plea and wanting to withdraw it. Negotiations for the plea started long before he actually pleaded. The court hearing was just a formality to something he agreed to long before he drove his car off a cliff.

The father of the 5 Browns musical group has had a request for an appeal to his pleas denied in court.

On Thursday the Utah Court of Appeals released a decision that denied Keith Brown's motion for a misplea that sought to set aside his guilty pleas to one count of sodomy on a child, a first-degree felony, and two counts of sexual abuse of a child, a second-degree felony. The opinion stated the court lacked jurisdiction to consider the belated challenge to his guilty pleas.

"The failure to file a timely motion to withdraw a guilty plea extinguishes a defendant's right to challenge the validity of the guilty plea on appeal," the opinion stated.

According to Brown's current attorney, Taylor Hartley, Brown is appealing his original plea deal because Brown was not in a proper physical or mental condition to understand the deal he was making. Brown had recently been in a major car accident where he drove a car off a cliff and suffered multiple bodily injuries. In the appeal documents from Brown it is argued that, "The drugs put him in a state where his answers during the plea colloquy were inaudible and inaccurate."

Hartley told the Herald that it would have been reasonable for the court to give Brown more time to recover from the emotional trauma he was suffering from the accident that occurred less than three days prior to the plea. He said a continuation should have been ordered had the district court known of his condition or inquired about it upon seeing the facial cuts and scrapes.
[...]

http://www.heraldextra.com/news/loca...aa9626a12.html

From September 2011:

A newly released police report shows the extent of child sexual abuse perpetrated against the three women of the piano group The 5 Browns went far beyond the three counts their father, Keith Brown, went to prison for.

The report and court documents detail abuses that happened over a span of at least eight years, hundreds of times for at least one of the daughters, and across state lines. Keith Brown exchanged emails about the abuse with his daughters before they went to police, the report stated.

The abuse would last some time for one daughter, and as that daughter got older, Brown would shift his focus to younger daughters, Deputy Utah County Attorney David Sturgill said last week after speaking with the Brown family.

Yet the egregious crimes may never have fallen into the public eye. Reporters following up on a car accident involving Keith Brown stumbled across charges filed against him just days before. On the way home from a Valentine's Day dinner with his wife, Brown drove his Porsche off the road and plunged 300 feet into a creek in Little Cottonwood Canyon. Police said he had been traveling too fast for the area.

"The position of a case of this magnitude was to have it resolved as quickly and quietly as possible," said Steven Shapiro, defense attorney for Keith Brown. "The intention was to not have this be any sort of a media event."

Sturgill said Brown's prosecution was treated "like any other." He pointed out it's hard enough for a victim of sexual assault to come forward, let alone have others know about it. "If I had my way, it wouldn't be reported on [by the news]," Sturgill said.

But Alana Kindness, executive director of the Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said media reports of abuse are advantageous to other victims. She believes the women of The 5 Browns coming forward have made a difference for other victims of a similar crime.

"I was very grateful to those young adults for coming forward," she said. "People say, 'Oh, I see this can happen to anyone.' It doesn't matter what neighborhood they come from or what family they come from. … It helps break down those misconceptions about who perpetrators are and who the victims are."

Being properly informed on the behavior of a suspect and the behavior of a victim "is critical in helping [other] victims to understand and not feel shame," Kindness said.

The Salt Lake Tribune generally does not name victims of sexual abuse, but early on in the case the Brown sisters — Melody, Deondra and Desirae — consented to identifying themselves as their father's victims.

The women first met with an officer at the Lone Peak Police Department on June 30, 2010, the report states.

"Each victim told me [she feels] terrible about bringing this information forward; however, due to their father recently obtaining some young female clients where he represents them in his business, they are concerned these things may begin to occur with some of these clients," the police report stated.

Shapiro said many close to the family knew about the abuse well before the daughters ever came forward. "My understanding of how it happened was the girls spoke with investigators significantly after their father had already spoken with his ecclesiastical leaders and had a conversation with his family," Shapiro said.

The police report indicates authorities contacted Keith Brown a month later on the phone but did not want to discuss what they wanted to talk to him about.
[...]

Nearly eight months later, in February, Keith Brown pleaded guilty to one count of sodomy on a child, a first-degree felony, and two counts sexual abuse of a child, both second-degree felonies. He was sentenced to 10 years to life in prison. Sturgill said the charged crimes were representative of the abuse against each of the daughters, but not of the number of times of actual abuse.

Putting together a plea deal accomplished what the victims wanted, Sturgill said.

"[The daughters] wanted a certain result," he said. "They had a number of years they wanted to see him behind bars; this was the simplest way to see that."
[...]

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/52...amily.html.csp

[Shadow]

So was he trying to kill himself and his wife when he drove off the cliff? He had to know he was going too fast to negotiate that area of road...



~shadow

[Abroad]

So was he trying to kill himself and his wife when he drove off the cliff? He had to know he was going too fast to negotiate that area of road...

Under the circumstances, I'd say that sounds more than likely.....