Local News in Brief : Westminster : David Brown Ordered to Trial in Wife’s Death

A computer whiz was ordered Wednesday to stand trial on charges that he masterminded the killing of his wife and then set up his teen-aged daughter to take the blame for the 1985 murder.

Arraignment of David A. Brown, 36, of Anaheim Hills on murder charges was scheduled for Feb. 2 in Superior Court in Santa Ana.

Municipal Judge Floyd H. Schenk ruled Wednesday that there was sufficient evidence to bind Brown over for trial. That closed out a 3-week preliminary hearing in a Westminster courtroom that featured testimony against Brown from both his daughter, 18-year-old Cinnamon Brown, and his current wife, 20-year-old Patricia A. Bailey, who is the sister of the dead woman and who also is charged with her murder.

Cinnamon Brown has spent the last 3 years in a California Youth Authority facility in Camarillo after being convicted of fatally shooting her stepmother, Linda Marie Brown, as she slept in the family’s Garden Grove home on March 19, 1985.

Last fall, Cinnamon Brown broke her silence about the case and told investigators that she killed her stepmother only at the elaborate prodding of her father. That led to David Brown’s arrest. He told investigators in a videotaped interview, which was played in court Tuesday, that he had at least some knowledge of the plans to kill his wife. But he has denied orchestrating the scheme, saying he tried to stop Cinnamon and Patricia Bailey from hurting her.

Brown collected $835,000 in life insurance after his wife’s death and, about 16 months later, married Bailey. The two allegedly were having an affair while Linda Brown was alive.