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Brothers' defense won't get to use key witness

This story originally appeared May 21, 2005

By JESSICA LOGAN, Californian staff writer
e-mail: jlogan@bakersfield.com | Thursday, Feb 15 2007 6:45 PM

Last Updated: Thursday, Feb 15 2007 6:45 PM

Vincent Brothers' defense attorneys will have a tougher time trying to get the case against the quintuple-murder defendant thrown out of court after a judge threw up a roadblock to a crucial witness.

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Brothers is accused of killing five family members. His attorney Kevin Little has long sought a hearing to dismiss the case.

He said that prosecutors committed misconduct on two fronts -- they tried to coerce one witness's testimony and they held a sham federal grand jury hearing.

But Little will not be able to proceed on the witness coercion allegations because the witness in question, Melvin Brothers, the defendant's brother, will not attend the hearing.

Little tried to have him forced to testify, but Little told Judge Michael Bush Friday, that was denied by another judge.

Melvin Brothers said the prosecution attempted to coerce his testimony to the grand jury.

The defense will now only be able to pursue the allegations that the prosecution conducted a sham grand jury investigation.

Brothers' attorneys also dropped hints Friday about possible defenses they may offer as they discussed the evidence issues.

Little asked Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green for a list of unsolved homicides and shootings within a one-mile radius of the place where Brothers' estranged wife, Joanie Harper, their three children, Marques, Lyndsey and Marshall, and his mother-in-law, Earnestine Harper, were found shot to death.

He said that the .22 caliber gun used to shoot the five victims has never been found. If another person were shot by the same weapon close to the house, it could help the defense.

Little also asked the prosecution for 400 hours of videotape from gas stations between Bakersfield and Ohio, where Vincent Brothers was visiting relatives around the time of the killings.

None of the tapes show Vincent Brothers, and Little said that could help prove his client's innocence.

Little also asked for any surveillance tapes of the Harper house the prosecution may have for the five years leading up to the killings, but he said he couldn't talk about why someone might be taping the family.

The two-year anniversary of the deaths is approaching.

Brothers has been jailed on murder charges for more than a year. The former vice principal at Fremont School was arrested April 30, 2004.