ARTICLE # 12  

July 3, 1991 - Warren, PA

"How does it feel to get seven to fourteen years for something you had nothing to do with?" Michael Brown has heard that question from other inmates in the Warren County Jail "a hundred times" since last Friday when Warren County Judge Robert L. Wolfe gave him the maximum sentence for his alleged part in the kidnap, rape, and murder of Kathy Wilson.

"I know they're just joking around," Brown observed, "But it's not funny. It would be funny, if it wasn't true."

In a complete reversal of the purported eyewitness testimony Brown offered during the first day of the trial of Jay William Buckley, during an interview with the Warren Times Observer this week, Brown said "I wasn't there," when the 33 year-old Jamestown, N.Y. woman was kidnapped, raped, and murdered.

"I had nothing to do with it," Brown now maintains.

Brown said his testimony against Buckley was driven by promises he would be released from jail after the trial, a $26,000 reward, and an admitted weakness for being easily manipulated.

Brown, 20, of Falconer, N.Y., said that during the two years he was in prison leading up to Buckley's trial, he tried to tell everyone from jail guards to the judge that he was not really a witness to the Wilson murder, but "they didn't want to listen."

Brown said he even wrote a letter to the judge at one point, telling him he was not an eyewitness, but apparently, "The letter was stopped" before reaching the judge.

Just as Buckley's attorney, Barry Lee Smith had insisted during the trial, Brown now agrees investigators, "Led me along. They told me what I needed to know" in an attempt to make his eyewitness account sound credible.

But investigators did not tell Brown everything.

For instance, Brown, who testified he followed Buckley's orders to unbutton the victim's blouse at the rape and murder scene near Lander, admitted, "If he (Smith) had asked me if the buttons were on the front or back of her blouse, I would have been stuck because they (police) didn't tell me that."

Likewise, when Smith asked Brown how long the victim's hair was, Brown said, "I guessed because they didn't tell me that."

Investigators did tell Brown, however, where Wilson's purse was discarded near Akeley and what color clothing she was wearing, he claims.

Brown now says his only involvement in the case was that Buckley, who was found not guilty of all charges, told him that he killed Wilson , without providing many details. Brown also believes that Buckley used the Brown family's van on the day Wilson disappeared.

"He asked me if he could use the van, so I went to work and left the keys in the van," Brown said.

Asked about witnesses' testimony that two males and a female in a blue panel van similar to the one owned by the Brown family were seen on Cable Hollow Rd. and Lindell Rd, Brown said, "Maybe there was another male suspect with them. I was not there."

Brown said on the evening of May 18, 1988, Buckley told him, "Mike I've got to talk to you. I need your help."

Buckley then told Brown that earlier in the day he hid in the back of a woman's van near the Four Coins Restaurant in Falconer, went to her house, then took her purse. At one point, said Brown, Buckley produced a black credit card with Wilson's name on it.

Later, said Brown, Buckley told him, "Mike, I did something today. I murdered someone." When Brown reacted, "Yeah, right," Buckley said, "Man, I'm serious," according to Brown.

When police began questioning Brown about Buckley, he took Buckley's comments more seriously. "I told them then 'I don't know anything,'" Brown recalled. "I told them I was at work and had nothing to do with it."

"New York police knew I didn't have anything to do with it," said Brown, but continued to question him "almost every day" about Buckley. Shortly after Wilson's remains were discovered in 1989, Brown "decided to cooperate."

Brown said he told Warren-based state police investigator John Herzog, "Jay told me this and Jay told me that, then all of a sudden he (Herzog) started talking about eyewitnesses" and mentioned $26,000 in reward money being offered in connection with the case.

I figured Jay did this and they needed an eyewitness. I just turned eighteen and that $26,000 sounded pretty good to me," said Brown. "Right up until the day they arrested me, they told me they would give me $26,000 if I cooperated. I figured I'd just be another witness and would never get in any trouble at all."

Brown added, "There's no way they could get me up there (on the witness stand) if I didn't feel deep down inside he did it."

Then state police arranged for a limousine ride that brought Brown from Falconer to Warren and arrested him as being an accomplice.

"All I knew was I was in jail and my son was due to be born in ten days and I wanted to get out," said Brown. "So I told them, O.K., I was an eyewitness."

He didn't have to know the details of the murder, said Brown, "Because the detectives led me along. They told me what I needed to know." As his time in jail dragged on, Brown said, "Everytime I began to feel like I was in trouble they would arrange for visits with my family. For quite a while, once a week, I was able to visit my family. That made me feel good."

Brown said Herzog also assured him he would be freed as soon as Buckley's trial ended and Brown said, "After a while I thought the only way I was going to get out was to be an eyewitness."

"I felt like they had a leash around my neck and they were tugging me along," said Brown.

Despite the contention of public defender Thomas Bonavita after sentencing last week that Brown had "no regrets" about plea bargaining to lesser charges, "I told him 150 times I didn't like it. I didn't have anything to do with it. After a year or so in jail, I knew I was in trouble, but I didn't know how to get out of it."

Brown said he kept telling investigators he wanted to recant his eyewitness testimony, but the only person who seemed to take that seriously was a Trooper Miles who interviewed Brown during a two-day session at the Holiday Inn. But after that session, Brown said he never saw Miles again.

"I was telling them what to check - my timecard at work, my work orders for that day, but they didn't want to listen," said Brown. "I felt if someone would review the records, they would know for themselves."

During the trial, Smith introduced into evidence Brown's timecard, which showed he was at work until 4:36 p.m. on May 18, rather than accompanying Buckley as he claimed. Brown said "someone else" must have punched his timecard that day. However, several of his supervisors and co-workers testified they did not punch Brown's timecard, and they don't remember he left work early that day as he claimed.

Brown said at one point he told jail personnel he wanted to go to Buckley's extradition hearing in New York "to tell them that they're making me do this," but his request apparently went no further.

By the time the trial arrived, Brown viewed eyewitness testimony against Buckley "as the only way out."

Ironically, Smith, the attorney who grilled Brown relentlessly for weeks during the trial, seemed to be the only one willing to believe Brown had no first-hand knowledge of what happened to Wilson.

"He made me feel stupid," Brown said of Smith, "He knew I wasn't there.."

If he had the resources, Brown said, "I'd want to get Barry Smith to talk to me. He knows I wasn't there and could prove it."

Brown, who plans to appeal the sentence handed down last week and try to withdraw the plea agreement, reasoned, "If I was involved, I would have taken the seven to fourteen years and been happy about it. But I was not there. I had nothing to do with it and I was supposed to get out of here after the trial."

" In my eyes, it's a very crooked system," said Brown. "Everyone knew I was at work all day." But in light of the verdict, Brown said, "At least I can say the jury really did listen."

Brown now feels his testimony may have actually helped produce a not guilty verdict. "Jay knew I wasn't there and Smith knew I wasn't there," said Brown, "so all they had to do was prove it."

Brown agrees with the psychologist's assessment during the trial that Brown is "easily manipulated."

"I think to myself, "You got seven to fourteen years in jail just because you're stupid and easily manipulated." The thing that scares me is that if they came to me again, I'd fall into their little trap and they'd take advantage of me again."

Brown said, "I've already wasted two years of my life for something I had nothing to do with. If they came to me again and asked me to be an eyewitness, I'd tell them to go fly a kite."

Warren County District Attorney Joseph A. Massa Jr. and Pennsylvania State Trooper John Herzog both declined comment Tuesday on Brown's statements. Bonavita could not be reached immediately for comment.