In a move that has been anticipated since February 27, 2025, Brian Steel, the attorney for Jason Anderson, who was convicted of felony murder, aggravated assault, and making false statements in connection with the January 1, 2020, death of Vann Brown, has filed an amended motion for a new trial for Anderson.
Steel filed a motion, which was just three pages long, on February 27 of this year, requesting a new trial for Anderson. That motion was actually the second motion Steel had filed. On February 26, Steel filed the first motion, a 22-page document that contains an affidavit from a juror who says she was bullied into voting for a guilty verdict by another juror. The juror also states that during deliberations, the juror who bullied her discussed information related to the case that was not brought up in the trial, possibly leading the jury to base its guilty verdict on inadmissible information. A third component of the filing is a transcript of a conversation between the second juror and another individual in which the two discuss whether or not the juror answered pre-trial questions appropriately, among other things.
Anderson’s sentencing took place on February 27, 2025; he received a sentence of life in prison and started serving his sentence immediately. During sentencing, Judge Kelly Brooks mentioned the first motion, stating that it had been filed prematurely and would have to be refiled before he could rule on it.
About an hour and a half after sentencing, Steel filed the three-page amended motion in which Steel simply asks for a new trial on four grounds: The verdict is contrary to the evidence and without support of it; The verdict is decidedly and strongly against the weight of the evidence; The verdict is contrary to law and the principles of justice and equity; and Any and all other issues of law and/or fact that will cause the verdict and sentence to be reversed.
On July 8, 2025, Steel filed the latest amended motion. The motion is a 35-page document that includes 17 pages of new material plus 18 pages from the February 26, 2025, original motion. Included is the aforementioned conversation between the second juror and the other individual.
In the new motion, Steel alleges that Anderson received ineffective counsel on several different fronts, all of which he lists. The motion also includes over 11 pages of facts from the Brown case.
The motion, in its entirety, can be seen below.
Homerville attorney Chad Corlee also submitted the motion with Steel.
In November of 2022, Justin Anderson, Jason Anderson’s brother, was acquitted of murder and aggravated assault abut convicted of making false statements and tampering with evidence in connection with Brown’s death. He received an 18-month sentence and has since been released.
In March of this year, Jeffery Harper, a third defendant charged with murder in the Brown case, was acquitted of felony murder and malice murder charges by a Bulloch County jury. Harper’s attorneys had requested and been granted a change of venue for the trial.
Jason Anderson is the only one of the three defendants in the Brown case to be convicted of murder.