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Brownsville woman claims attorney in her homicide case was ineffective

By Alyssa Choiniere achoiniere@heraldstandard.Com 3 min read

A Brownsville woman who pleaded no contest to third-degree murder in the death of a 24-year-old father of three claimed her attorney was ineffective when he secured her a sentence of 10 to 20 years in prison.

The attorney for Keli Marie Brumley, 22, filed a motion asking for a new trial, saying she felt pressured when she entered her plea.

Brumley was accused of orchestrating a fake drug deal with Arsuan Lee Patterson, 22, to rob Jordan Mapstone and Trisa Stickle. Stickle was trying to buy Xanax from Brumley when she and Mapstone, her passenger, were met by Patterson on Dunlap Street in Uniontown Feb. 26, 2017. Patterson had a gun and demanded money. When Stickle tried to drive away, Patterson shot Mapstone, who died at Uniontown Hospital.

Brumley also pleaded no contest to criminal conspiracy and recklessly endangering another person before Fayette County President Judge John F. Wagner Jr. in August 2018. A no contest plea is neither admitting nor denying guilt.

Patterson pleaded guilty to similar charges in July and was also sentenced by Wagner to serve 22½ to 45 years in prison.

Brumley testified that she reconsidered her plea after she entered it, and said she was scared by the alternative of a life sentence if she was convicted of second degree murder.

“After I sat down and thought about that, I would have wanted to take that back. That’s not what I wanted to do,” she said of her plea.

Brumley testified she felt rushed, and was sentenced within a few hours after she was presented with the plea sheet by her attorney, Jeremy Davis. Her mother, Sandra DeFrank, testified she was at work when her daughter called about the plea, and she was told to hurry to the courthouse to be there for the plea and sentencing. After the plea hearing and sentencing, Brumley, her mother and grandmother called Davis, according to testimony. Davis returned a call to her grandmother, he said. He testified he was never asked to file an appeal.

Davis testified he thought Brumley understood the agreement and that he sat with her to explain it. She signed papers saying she understood, saying he did everything she asked and saying his counsel was effective. Davis said he was prepared to go to trial, which would have started within a few days if she had not entered a plea.

“I don’t believe there was anything more I could have done,” he said.

The day of the plea and sentencing progressed quickly, he said, but he had discussed offers with Brumley for months. Previous offers were 20 to 40 years and 15 to 30 years in prison.

Wagner gave Brumley’s attorney, Peter J. Daley, 45 days following the receipt of the hearing transcript to file a brief, and gave Assistant District Attorney William Martin 45 days thereafter to file his brief.

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