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Monday, March 26, 2012

Twin Brothers' Animal Cruelty Retrial Begins Again

Baltimore City Circuit Judge Emanuel Brown will decide whether a jury can see a police surveillance video that prosecutors say ties twin brothers Travers and Tremayne Johnson to a pit bull that was set on fire in 2009.

The second trial in the animal cruelty case opened Friday with a series of requests by the brothers' defense attorneys for Brown to throw out key pieces of the prosecution's evidence, including the video and a gas can.

Brown held off ruling on the motions until at least Monday, when the trial continues. Jury selection could begin then.

The brothers, now 20, are accused of covering a young female pit bull, later named Phoenix by rescue workers, with an accelerant and setting her ablaze in West Baltimore. The dog was euthanized days later.

The video was a sticking point in the previous trial, which ended last year with a hung jury. The jurors deliberated for three days, but a police sergeant's narration of the silent video, recorded from a surveillance camera on a utility pole, wasn't enough to convince one of the 12 jurors of the brothers' guilt. The 35-minute video captures portions of the event, the prosecution says.

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