T-L Photo/ROBERT A. DEFRANK Meredith Broome takes the stand and testifies during the second day of her trial. Closing arguments and jury deliberation will begin today. Broome, stepdaughter of murdered former Powhatan Point mayor and businessman Marvin Brown, is charged with tampering with evidence and obstruction of justice in allegedly attempting to conceal her mother’s theft from Brown’s business.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The prosecution and defense concluded their cases Wednesday in the second day of Meredith Broome’s trial, with closing arguments and jury deliberation expected to take place today.

Broome, 35, with an address in Rome, Georgia, is the stepdaughter of murdered former Powhatan Point mayor and businessman Marvin Brown. She is 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.

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 is accused of attempting to conceal her mother’s theft by trying to prevent a meeting between Marvin Brown and an accountant in 2013.

The prosecution argued that Broome approached a friend, Hattie Conner, 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.

Broome took the stand Wednesday and denied any knowledge of or involvement with her mother’s theft offenses. She admitted to a substance abuse problem during 2013 and to purchasing prescription pills for herself and her mother.

“So you would get financial support from her, you were dependent upon her, but did not know that it was coming to her illegally?” Dennis McNamara, her attorney, asked of Broome’s relationship with her mother.

Broome agreed that was the case.

“All this came out afterwards,” Broome said, adding that she first heard of the theft charges during her mother’s prosecution. “That’s when I found out the extent, because I didn’t know what she was doing. … I actually learned whenever everybody else learned, on the TV.”

Broome said she attempted to convince Conner to leave the message her mother had written but said Deborah Doty Brown did not explain why she wanted to cancel the appointment with the accountant. In response to McNamara’s questions, Broome said she had not known if Conner had made the call, or if the meeting with the accountant eventually took place.

Broome said her mother’s request appeared odd, but she did not question it.

“When you asked Hattie Conner to make a call, was it your intention to interfere with or somehow corrupt an investigation of your mother?” McNamara asked. “Did you have any idea that there was then or would in the future be any investigation of your mother?”

Broome answered no to both questions.

“I wouldn’t have covered nothing up,” she said.

Before Broome took the stand in her own defense, the prosecution rested its case. At that point McNamara asked for the case to be dismissed, arguing that at the time of Broome’s alleged offense there was no official investigation to hinder. He said Broome could not attempt to conceal a crime she was unaware of.

Belmont County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Kevin Flanagan said the statute for tampering with evidence also specifies that the offense can occur during ongoing investigations or when a proceeding is about to be or is likely to be instituted.

“The fact that there were these theft offenses, and the fact that Ms. Broome made statements to law enforcement as well as to Ms. Conner that her mother needed her to do something relative to essentially the accountant finding out, one can assume that or infer from the evidence that (an investigation) would begin because of the theft offense. Also, it cannot be left unsaid much of the ill-gotten gains ended up in the form of drugs, that we have made a direct relationship between Ms. Broome and Ms. Brown relative to the purchase of those drugs.”

He said the obstruction charge also remains valid.

“The gist of this obstruction is to hide,” Flanagan said. “Hiding the information that could have led to criminal charges ultimately is what the obstruction is.”

Belmont County Common Pleas Judge John Vavra continued the trial and McNamara began his defense.

Before resting his case, Flanagan also called Belmont County sheriff’s Chief Detective Ryan Allar to the stand. He testified about the process of the investigation.

The accountant also testified, and the jury heard an interview with Broome and law enforcement from March 2018. McNamara also called Broome’s sister, Rebecca McLeod of Morristown, to the stand.