BOSTON, Feb. 23, 2015—The Massachusetts Appeals Court today affirmed an earlier order denying a new trial for the man who murdered off-duty firefighter Danclar Mead 20 years ago, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said today.

The order marks the third time that KAREEN BROWN has been denied a new trial since his conviction for stabbing Mead, who mentored young men in his neighborhood, to death outside a Dorchester fast food restaurant on March 15, 1994. He is currently serving a life sentence.

“It’s not unusual to receive motions like this decades after the fact,” Conley said. “But by ensuring that every trial is a fair one, we can argue persuasively that they’re unfounded in facts or law.”

Brown moved for a new trial with on a claim that the courtroom was impermissibly closed during jury selection for the 1998 proceedings. In support of that claim, several of Brown’s family members filed affidavits saying they had been locked out of the courtroom – the first time this claim had ever been made. The trial judge denied that motion in a decision based on the record of the proceedings and called the affidavits “manifestly not credible.”

The Appeals Court reached the same conclusion.

“Indeed, the record supports a conclusion that the majority of the [defendant’s] allegations were demonstrably untrue,” Justices Gary Katzmann, Mary Sullivan, and Amy Lyn Blake wrote. “All of these findings are amply supported by the record and are not clearly erroneous.”

The Appeals Court also rejected the argument that Brown’s trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to this alleged courtroom closure.

“There was no error, much less a substantial risk of a miscarriage of justice,” the panel concluded.

Assistant District Attorney Jack Zanini, chief of the DA’s Appellate Division, argued against the defendant’s motion.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.