TAKOMA PARK, Md. — A man whose murder conviction was overturned on appeal has been reconvicted of the 2014 crime, according to the Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office.
Hussain Ali Zadeh was found guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Cecil Brown. He was sentenced on February 1, 2022, to the maximum of 30 years in prison. Zadeh was first convicted of the crime in 2017, along with his girlfriend Larlane Pannell Brown. Larlane Brown remains in prison serving her 30-year sentence.
Wiping tears and hugging the prosecutors, Belinda Brown, the fifth of Cecil Brown's children, told reporters how much she missed her dad, describing the void in her life since her father's death.
"If you were going to sum up this case, it's about betrayal, and it's about greed," said Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy.
Cecil Brown, 74, was in the back yard of his Takoma Park home working on his wife's truck when he was beaten to death and died of multiple blunt force trauma injuries, according to the state's attorney's office.
The Takoma Park Police Department conducted an investigation that culminated in the arrest of Zadeh and his accomplice on May 29, 2015.
According to court documents, Zadeh began a sexual relationship with his married accomplice, Larlane Brown, in October 2013 and continued until the murder and through May 2015, when the two of them were arrested.
The benefits of the relationship were not only sexual but also monetary. Throughout the course of the relationship, as demonstrated at trial, Zadeh received numerous gifts from Mrs. Brown including paid trips to Jamaica and a Jaguar station wagon. While in a relationship with Mrs. Brown, Zadeh maintained other relationships with other women, according to court documents.
On the day of the murder, Mr. Brown went to work in Jessup, Maryland, leaving the family home at approximately 6:00 a.m. At trial, an expert in cellular forensic technology testified that the cell site location information obtained from the defendant’s phone records was consistent with the defendant’s phone being present at the home Larlane Pannell Brown and her husband Cecil Brown shared, starting at 6:59 a.m., which was shortly after Mr. Brown left for work, and continuing until 11:51 a.m. During this time, Mrs. Brown received a call from the victim. Witnesses from Mr. Brown’s work testified at trial that the job was canceled that morning due to weather conditions and that Cecil Brown told people he was going home. The evidence at trial showed that Mr. Brown was beaten to death by Zadeh, assisted by Larlane Brown.
Zadeh and Larlane Brown were tried together for murder the first time. An appeals court threw out his conviction, finding that too much of the testimony was solely about her. She's still in prison, and following this new conviction, Zadeh is looking at a maximum possible sentence of 30 years.
"They killed the wrong man, but they got the right daughter," Belinda Brown said, pointing at her father's picture. "I stand right here for that guy. He was mine. And I was his."
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