Local News in Brief : Anaheim : Murder Suspect Pleads Innocent to Plot Charges

Anaheim computer businessman David A. Brown pleaded innocent Friday to charges that he plotted to kill two members of the district attorney’s office and his current wife in an effort to thwart his ongoing murder prosecution.

Prosecutors say they have tapes of recent phone conversations between Brown, 36, and another inmate at Orange County Jail in which Brown allegedly offered to pay at least $30,000--and perhaps hundreds of thousands more--for the murders of the three.

But Brown’s attorneys said Friday that they will fight the charges by attacking the credibility of a third inmate who told authorities about the alleged plot.

At the time that Brown allegedly schemed to murder his current wife, Patricia Bailey, Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeoffrey Robinson and investigator Jay Newell, he was already awaiting trial on charges of murdering his wife, Linda Brown.

Brown is accused of orchestrating her 1985 shooting death and then setting up his teen-age daughter to take the blame. Patricia Bailey--the victim’s sister--is a co-defendant but is now a key witness against her husband.

The added twist posed by the new charges against Brown forced attorneys Friday to delay the start of his trial in Linda Brown’s murder until Aug. 2. But first, Brown faces a May 30 preliminary hearing to determine whether he should stand trial on charges that he plotted the murders of Robinson, Newell and Bailey while behind bars.