Brahm guilty of murder

East Vincent man faces life sentence without parole after first-degree murder verdict

The East Vincent man who faced charges for conducting a series of “merciless beatings” of his girlfriend that grew out of his jealous desire to control her and to punish her for seeing another man they had both been involved with in a sexual relationship has been found guilty of the homicide.

The jury of nine men and three women returned with their verdict to the large Courtroom Two on the seventh floor of the Chester County Justice Center around 8 p.m. Friday after deliberating for just over an hour, having heard voluminous evidence in the case against Leroy “Lee” Brahm III for a week in the trial presided over by Common Pleas Judge Alita Rovito.

The panel found Brahm, 33, guilty of charges of first-degree murder, multiple counts of aggravated assault, simple assault, and recklessly endangering another person. The first-degree murder conviction carries with it a mandatory sentence of life in state prison without parole, and Rovito can add additional time to the punishment on the assault charges if she chooses. He will be formally sentenced at a later date. Brahm did not take the stand in his own defense and stayed largely silent during the proceedings — which were marked by the display of recorded videos of his assaults on 21-year-old Downingtown native Annabel Rose Meenan, and were watched closely by a group of family, friends and supporters of Meenan that numbered about two dozen. After the verdict was announced in court, Brahm was taken back to Chester County Prison, where he has been held without bail since his arrest in December 2021.

Authorities hailed the verdict as fitting in the case and as “justice” for Meenan.

In a statement, District Attorney Christopher L. de Barrena-Sarobe said Brahm, “unfathomably, brutally, and systematically beat his girlfriend to death during the course of a night. The jury rightfully recognized that the defendant was guilty of all charges.”

Chief Matthew Williams of the East Vincent Police Department added, “I want to thank the Chester County Detectives and the D.A.’s Office for their diligent work in this case. By working together, we were able to achieve justice for the victim and her family.”

The case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Kate Wright and Deputy District Attorney Nichole Morley. The investigation was led by Chester County Detective Christine Blieler. Brahm was represented by attorneys Scott McIntosh of Royersford and Anthony DiDonato of Lancaster County.

In addition to the videos, the evidence against Brahm included text messages he sent to Meenan

accusing her of cheating on him; a phone message recorded during a beating in which she was heard pleading with him to stop; videos of them at a Phoenixville bar the night before the murder; testimony from people who knew her and of their stormy relationship; and expert medical and toxicological testimony.

Meenan, who had been dating Brahm since she was a high school student, was beaten repeatedly over the course of a few weeks in November and December 2021. Those were captured on three cameras that Brahm had installed in the Buttonwood Avenue mobile home trailer the two shared.

The violence of the assaults was clear. Brahm was seen throwing punches at Meenan as she lay on their bed, and hopping up and down on her prone body in the living room. The autopsy conducted on her following her death showed multiple bruises and blunt impact injuries to her head, face and torso.

Wright told the jury that the motive for the assaults was a case of jealousy.

“He was done with Annabel choosing another man instead of himself,” she said. “He wanted to reassert his control over her. Over and over he beat her the night of her death until she was bruised and beaten and bloody.” He went so far, she said, as to stomp on her head and pick up the living room sofa and drop it onto her prone body. He then sat down on it and went to sleep.

“She died a painful and brutal death,” Wright said.

The medical examiner, Dr. Gary Collins of Delaware, said that Meenan had died of cardiac arrest after having ingested cocaine and alcohol. He ruled, however, that the cardiac arrest had been brought on by the physical injuries she suffered during the assaults. The Chester County Coroner’s Office, under then-Coroner Dr. Christina VandePol, ruled the death a homicide.

“The truest way to know a man’s mind is to look at his actions,” Wright told the jurors in her opening statement. And the videos, she declared, “catches him in the act doing what he did to her.”

But to Brahm’s defense attorney, his client might be guilty of assault, but “bruises don’t cause death.” The prosecution, he asserted, would not be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the cardiac arrest she suffered that day was due to anything but her drunken condition the morning she died.

McIntosh contended that the couple had been friendly the night before Meenan’s death, drinking at their favorite bar in Phoenixville and sending one another flowers. He suggested that Brahm had “snapped” later that night because of his own intoxication, and started beating her.

The swiftness of the jury’s verdict indicated that they were not terribly swayed by the argument that Brahm did not play a premeditated role in her death. They also rejected verdicts of third-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter, which signal an unintentional killing.

Brahm was arrested after police and first responders were called to his home in the early morning of Dec. 4, 2021. Police found Meenan “cold to the touch” with obvious injuries when they arrived, with Brahm telling them that he had awoke to find her face down on the living room floor after a night of drinking.

He was first charged with assault, and then later with murder after Chester County Detectives found the video system in the home and watched video of him beating her that day, and in previous days.

Wright said the motivation for Brahm’s attacks on Meenan grew from a sexual relationships they had developed with a third person, a Tredyffrin resident named Kevin Walters. Brahm had helped arrange the relationship, and the three had gone on an ocean cruise sometime in the late summer.

It was on that trip that Brahm began to suspect that Meenan was developing a relationship with Walters outside of his presence, and he became jealous. He began following her movements, demanding to know where she was, and in November 2021 tracked her down to his apartment in Wayne when she had told him she was going to visit a relative.

The videos that the jury saw included:

On Nov. 6, 2021 Brahm is seen punching a bedroom door and furniture while yelling at the victim. Later, Meenan walks down the hall and into the bedroom with no visible injuries or limps. Within an hour, Meenan is seen on the video limping, having difficulty walking, and rubbing her lower leg, which was discovered to have a fibular fracture when she sought medical help on Nov. 15. In surveillance videos after that date and leading up to her death, Meenan can be seen wearing a medical walking boot.

On Nov. 13, 2021 the video shows Brahm strangling Meenan to the point of unconsciousness and slapping her.

On Nov. 23, 2021 Brahm was shown on video punching Meenan 21 times in the head and body and strangling her.

On Dec. 4, 2021 the videos showed Brahm punching Meenan in the head and body at least 85 times and kicking and stomping her at least 80 times in a series of assaults that culminated in her death.

When asked by police to explain the numerous bruises on her near-naked body, Brahm was dismissive, Wright said. “I know it looks bad,” she quoted him as saying. But it’s just a sexual kink. We like rough sex.”