Keith Brown, father of 5 Browns, sentenced to 10 years in jail for sodomy, sexual abuse on daughters
Home
Autos
Real Estate
Jobs
Classifieds
Apps
Place an Ad
Buy Pictures
Buy Tickets
8/23/11 9:15 AM
Deal of the Day
Login
SITE
BLOGS
DISCUSSIONS
WEB
Search powered by
Gossip
News
Celebrity Photos
Article
Gossip
Sports
Entertainment
Events
Register
SEARCH
Local
Opinion
Life & Style
uPhoto
More Sections +
Fashion
Comments
(21)
Share
Keith Brown, father of 5 Browns,
sentenced to 10 years in jail for sodomy,
sexual abuse on daughters
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Thursday, March 31st 2011, 2:22 PM
Recommend
25 people recommend this. Be the first of your
friends.
Roh/AP
Keith Brown (l.) pleaded guilty in February to one felony count of sodomy of a child and two
felony counts of sexual abuse of a child.
PROVO, Utah -- The father of the renowned piano group The 5 Browns was sentenced
Thursday to serve at least 10 years in prison on charges that he sexually abused his three
daughters when they were children.
Keith S. Brown, 55, pleaded guilty in February to one felony count of sodomy of a child and
two felony counts of sexual abuse of a child.
Fourth District Judge David Mortensen sentenced Brown to 10 years to life on the first
count, and 15 years to life for each of the others. The sentences will run concurrently, but
Brown will have to serve at least 10 years under the plea agreement.
"I do believe, sir, that you are a pedophile, and I do believe that you are a danger to
society," Mortensen said before handing down the sentence.
PHOTOS: BROWN JOINS THE LIST OF BAD CELEBRITY DADS
PHOTO GALLERY
Bad celeb dads
Father's Day may be that special
time of year for dads, but these
bad pops shouldn't expect a card.
PHOTO GALLERY
Explore deals, hidden
vacation fiestas, the best
cruises and long-weekend
escapes!
GO NOW!
Brown had been free pending the sentencing but was led away by a bailiff after Thursday's
http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2011/03/31/2011-03-31_keith_brown…_of_5_browns_sentenced_to_10_years_in_jail_for_sodomy_sexual_a.html
Page 1 of 5
Keith Brown, father of 5 Browns, sentenced to 10 years in jail for sodomy, sexual abuse on daughters
hearing to be taken to the Utah State Prison.
Brown's three daughters Desirae, 32, Deondra, 30, and Melody, 26, and two sons make up
The 5 Browns, whose albums have topped the classical music charts and who have
appeared on "Oprah," "60 Minutes" and other programs.
8/23/11 9:15 AM
Celebrity mug shots
Welcome to the club! Take a look
back at the stars who landed
behind bars.
Keith Brown once served as manager of his children's group, but they severed their
professional relationship with him in 2008.
The Brown sisters remain estranged from their father. They reported the abuse to Lone
Peak police last year after learning that their father planned to begin working with other
young musicians.
EDITORS' PICKS
Summer's almost over, but
these beach bods don't quit
PHOTOS: The weather has been
hot, these sexy bodies have been
even hotter.
Lindsay Low-han: Star
parties TOO hard at
Kardashian wedding
The troubled starlet shows off a
not-so-hot new look.
The curse of reality TV
"Real Housewives of Atlanta" star
Lisa Wu-Hartwell's marriage
ends.
Khadafy can wave goodbye
to his vast fortune
Libya's new government stands
to reap millions from longtime
leader's secret bank accounts.
The 5 Browns have received critical acclaim for the classical music. (Olson/AP)
The Associated Press does not generally identify people who say they were sexually
abused, but the Brown sisters have chosen to be identified.
Nick Ashford, legendary
Motown songwriter, dies
Kimball Thomson, a spokesman for group, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that
sisters weren't in court Thursday because they are on tour. All three wrote letters to the
judge expressing their feelings about the case, Thomson said. The letters are not public.
Co-wrote smash hit "Ain't No
Mountain High Enough," he was
69.
"The girls don't want to make any statements about the case right now," Thomson said.
Deputy Utah County Attorney David Sturgill on Thursday called Brown's daughters
courageous and said he was satisfied with the negotiated plea and the sentence. Sturgill
has said the three charges don't reflected the years-long pattern of abuse suffered by
Brown's children.
Teen gunned down by excon father of her baby
19-year-old shot six times in the
chest after throwing bleach on
gunman: cops.
"To say whether 10 years, 15, 20 years in jail or prison is enough for he's done, I don't
know," Sturgill said. "Whether it's good or bad, he has changed the course of their lives,
and I don't know if there's any price he could possibly pay that would make up for that."
Court documents state the allegations stem from separate events between November 1990
and March 1998 in Utah County. There are no statutes of limitation in Utah that prevent
prosecutors from filing such sex crime charges.
STARS WHO HAVE HAD RUN-INS WITH THE LAW
After the hearing, defense attorney Steven Shapiro said Brown is remorseful and had
expressed his apologies to the court, his family and the community in a letter to the judge
rather than speaking in open court.
"I think every step that he has taken in this process has been geared towards taking
responsibility for what he's done," Shapiro said.
That the judge called Brown a pedophile "probably fits with the statutory definition of what
that is," he said.
Brown chose to enter the plea to bring a quick resolution to the case and did not want to
"exacerbate the harm" by dragging out the proceedings, Shapiro has said.
Three days after prosecutors filed the charges, a car Brown was driving plunged 300 feet
over a cliff in Salt Lake City's Little Cottonwood Canyon. Brown and Lisa Brown, 54, the
mother of the group members, were hospitalized after the Valentine's Day crash that left
the Porsche mangled and unrecognizable.
BEST OF NYDN.COM
The crash was deemed an accident by Salt Lake County sheriff's investigators, who said
Brown was driving too fast for the winding two-lane canyon road.
http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2011/03/31/2011-03-31_keith_brown…_of_5_browns_sentenced_to_10_years_in_jail_for_sodomy_sexual_a.html
Page 2 of 5