Brown gets life for Hout murder

Theresa Conway stood beside Lonnie Brown May 5 outside an Orrville apartment in what she believed was shared grief and disbelief that her sister, Jamie Hout, had been murdered.On Thursday, Oct. 13, Conway stood in Wayne County Common Pleas Judge Corey Spitler’s courtroom and asked that Brown, 48, Back Orrville Road, Wooster, be locked up for life.Brown was convicted of aggravated murder and murder Sept. 29 after a four-day jury trial in the death of Hout, 27, Orrville. Spitler sentenced Brown Thursday to life in prison, the maximum penalty on the aggravated murder charge.Brown faced Spitler Thursday with members of Hout’s family taking up most of the seats in the courtroom. Members of Brown’s family, including his mother, sat behind him.Conway, reading a prepared statement, said when she decided to attend the trial she was not yet convinced whether Brown was guilty of her sister’s murder. That changed as the trial progressed, Conway said.“Unlike the majority of people in this community, I hadn’t made up my mind about you,” Conway said. “I needed to be here to hear the evidence myself. I got what I needed from the criminal justice system. The final conclusion is hard to argue.”Hout was brutally murdered May 4, having been severely beaten and strangled.Her death was reported by Brown May 5, and Brown said he found Hout’s body after dropping by to check on her.Brown was arrested May 16 after investigators turned up two of Brown’s fingerprints in Hout’s blood on a broken bottle neck.Brown took the witness stand and explained the fingerprints and microscopic traces of blood on his glasses as the result of a fall in Hout’s residence. Spitler, prior to pronouncing sentence, said Brown’s explanation lacked credibility. Conway called it a flat-out lie.“Standing outside (Hout’s apartment May 5) with you for hours, I saw no blood,” Conway said. “You never mentioned falling down or that you touched her.”Brown continued to profess his innocence and said he prays every day that God will “have mercy on all our souls.”“Jamie will always be in my heart and mind forever,” Brown said. “I loved Jamie just like the daughter I never had. For the things people say to me I fear not.”Hout’s father, Rick Sims, yelled directly at Brown when given a chance to speak before being stopped by Spitler. Sims asked that Brown spend the rest of his life behind bars and the anniversary of Hout’s death “in solitary confinement.”Conway called Hout “beautiful.” Conway said Brown deprived Hout of the chance to turn her life around, and, just as important, deprived her family of a lifetime of memories with a daughter, aunt, sister and mother.“Her addiction did not wipe out her love for her family. Nothing could change that,” Conway said.