1 convicted, 1 set free in Aliquippa cop killing

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ^ | 05/11/2002 | By Milan Simonich, Dennis B. Roddy and Nate Guidry, Post-Gazette Staff Writers

[Glenn]

Jurors delivered a stunning compromise verdict yesterday in the execution-like slaying of Aliquippa police officer James Naim, convicting one suspect of third-degree murder and acquitting the other of all charges.

They found Jamie M. Brown, 24, guilty of a reduced murder charge, even though Naim was shot twice in the head at close range as he walked his beat.

[Glenn]

This is my town. Where I live. Where my wife and child live. This policeman was shot twice in the head, execution style. This jury, from Erie, was the result of an earlier inept jury selection procedure. Much of the community is in shock that this jury cut a deal for itself. Officer Naim was a community police officer with a station in the housing plan he patrolled. It's sad he didn't get justice yesterday.

[Tacis]

This is one of those stories that screams for racial identification of those on trial, the executed cop and the members of the jury.

[RodgerD]

Looks like the photos do that.

This racist cop obviously assaulted the law-abiding suspects by swatting their bullets with his skull.

[carmody]

...Naim told his mother and brother, Paul, in mid-February 2001 that he feared he was going to be "ambushed."

Further, if the ambush occurred, he said, the Aliquippa Police Department should be investigated.

The report hints that Naim might have been a whistleblower about corrupt police actions. It also stated that Naim confided in his twin brother Don, his wife Gallina and cousins George and Joseph David.

Is their any truth to this part of the story?

[robertpaulsen]

Either:
"The third-degree conviction means the jury found that Brown acted with malice, but not with specific intent to kill Naim."

Or:
"A second bullet was fired into his head as he lay helpless on the grass ... the killer's handgun was virtually pressed behind Naim's left ear as the second shot went off."

But certainly not both. I would also like to know if this was the OJ jury.

[Glenn]

I think those reports were generated pre-trial to prepare the jury for a conspiracy defense. I don't believe there is a whit of truth in any of it.

[Glenn]

This is one of those stories that screams for racial identification of those on trial, the executed cop and the members of the jury.

The cop was white. The two accused, black. The makeup of the jury can't be reported for politically-correct reasons, I suppose.

[ambrose]

Looks like some corrupt cops killed Naim.

[carmody]

It seems that if the newspaper is going to throw out the possibility that police corruption was involved, it would be worth the effort to simply ask the family members for verification. If the police corruption angle is not true then the victim's family should deny the reports. I think it's curious that the officer's family doesn't set the record straight. Unless it's true.