Moore

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Steven Andrew Moore, the man who admitted to shooting and killing former Powhatan Point mayor and businessman in an alleged murder-for-hire, was briefly in court Monday, but was returned to jail while his attorney Chase Mallory, and Belmont County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Kevin Flanagan consulted with Common Pleas Judge John Vavra in the judicial chambers.

Vavra had set the status conference to discuss matters of Moore’s sentencing scheduled for Dec. 9, and for a possible plea to a charge of trafficking in drugs.

“These matters have been continued previously. There were discussions then about other matters that may or may not pertain as far as investigation materials are concerned. We had had discussions with counsel about the timetable an the court scheduled this status conference for these two cases mainly to learn if there had been any progress,” Vavra said of Moore’s case.

Brown was killed during a home invasion on Nov. 18, 2013. Law enforcement had arrested Moore, 39, of 5495 Cove Road, Powhatan Point on drug trafficking charges in 2018. During an interview in March when he was in custody, Moore reportedly confessed to the murder.

During the course of the interview, Moore initially said he was in Brown’s home with another individual, but only in a lookout capacity. He eventually confessed to firing the fatal shot.

He pleaded guilty in February, shortly after Vavra denied a motion that Moore’s confession be suppressed.

Moore faces a sentence of life without parole for aggravated murder and an additional 11 years for aggravated burglary. The charges also carry firearms specifications, which could mean an additional three more years for each.

Meanwhile, a woman who had been named in connection with the case is set to go to trial today for an unrelated charge of obstruction of justice.

Brown’s stepdaughter, Meredith Broome, 35, of Rome, Georgia, also known as Meredith McLeod, was arrested in March of 2018 on the suspicion that she arranged and paid for the 2013 murder. She was charged in June with tampering with evidence and obstruction of justice. The grand jury did not indict her for murder. In March, she went to trial and was found innocent of tampering, but the jury was deadlocked on obstruction of justice.

Broome’s new trial for obstruction of justice is set to begin this morning before Vavra. He said the trial is expected to last two days.

Charges stem from incidents occurring 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 was accused of attempting to conceal her mother’s theft by trying to prevent a meeting between Marvin Brown and an accountant in 2013.

The point of argument during Broome’s March trial was how much she knew about her mother’s criminal activities and when she knew them.