After two trials, West Chester attorney guilty in father’s death

The case of Commonwealth vs. Edward O’Brien III played out this year over two trials, spanning two months, in two different courtrooms, heard by two different juries, with two competing versions of events, and with two different results.

But eventually O’Brien, a stocky 61-year-old West Chester attorney, was found guilty of third-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, and recklessly endangering another person in the 2013 death of his father, 92-year-old Edward J. O’Brien Jr. at the home they shared in West Whiteland.

His trials were one of the top stories in the Daily Local News in 2016.

The trials examined in stark terms the question of whether the elder O’Brien — a World War II veteran and longtime postal carrier from New Jersey — was purposefully allowed to wither away and die, “drowned in his own fluids” as the prosecution contended, in violation of criminal law — or whether he passed away naturally by his own wishes, as the younger O’Brien’s defense attorney insisted.

Tomorrow: The No 3 story of the year: Coatesville Murders: For a two-day stretch, the streets of Coatesville turned deadly. First was a double murder followed by the murder of a veteran a day later. For the year, there were 7 murders in the city, which included one stabbing murder. There was an arrest in the death of the Veteran, and police are seeking help from the public in the unsolved cases.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the fourth of seven straight stories counting down Chester County’s top stories of the year. Also see Page B1 as we count down our Top 7 Business stories of the year.