Jordan Brown

PITTSBURGH — A boy who was 11 when he was accused of killing his father’s pregnant fiancée and her unborn son was found guilty Friday of their 2009 shotgun slayings.

Lawrence County Judge John Hodge found the now-14-year-old Jordan Brown delinquent, the juvenile court equivalent of a guilty verdict, in the deaths of 26-year-old Kenzie Houk and her unborn child. The judge closed the trial to the media and all but close family members because of the boy’s age during the killings.

The boy’s lawyer, Stephen Colafella, said it was too early to say if he’d appeal the judge’s ruling on the first-degree murder and criminal homicide charges.

Deputy Attorney General Anthony Krastek said the guilty verdict was important because it would allow the boy to receive counseling and other treatment that had been denied because he and his family had refused to acknowledge his guilt.

“It’s sad that it’s coming so late,” Krastek said, referring to the fact that Brown has been in a juvenile facility about 80 miles from his home for most of the three years since he was charged. “We offered this same result two years ago and it was stubbornly refused.”

“I read in the newspaper the other day that his father said he was the biggest victim in this whole thing,” Krastek said. “That’s the mindset we’ve been dealing with. Finally the child’s best interest can be attended to right now.”

Colafella said Christopher Brown, the boy’s father, wouldn’t be commenting but was “extremely disappointed” by the verdict. Brown had gone on ABC’s “Good Morning America” two years ago to proclaim his son’s innocence and repeated that for local reporters after closing arguments in the trial Thursday.

“He now has to wrestle with two issues: One is the impact of the verdict and his belief in his son’s innocence,” Colafella said. “And, at the same time, he must shift his focus to the treatment aspect of the verdict.” County probation officials will devise a treatment plan for the boy, who remains in a juvenile lockup.