Sage Arias-Brown pleaded not guilty as prosecutors outlined a 911 recording, witness evidence and a knife recovered near his father’s apartment.
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — Sage Arias-Brown stood before a Suffolk County judge on Sept. 17 and pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, beginning the next stage of a case in which prosecutors accuse him of killing his 69-year-old father inside a Mastic studio apartment 10 days earlier.
The indictment transformed what began as an early-morning homicide arrest into a felony prosecution that could carry a sentence of 25 years to life if Arias-Brown is convicted. During the court appearance, prosecutors disclosed details that had not been part of the initial police announcement, including the condition of Arias-Brown when officers found him, a knife recovered from a nearby garbage can and the words prosecutors say Edward Brown spoke during a 911 call. The defense, meanwhile, emphasized that Arias-Brown had no prior convictions and entered a not-guilty plea.
Assistant District Attorney Melissa Grier told Acting State Supreme Court Justice Richard Horowitz that Brown’s emergency call captured part of the alleged attack. Prosecutors say Brown identified his son by first name while telling the dispatcher that he was being murdered. The recording could become important evidence because it was made during the event itself, but its ultimate use in court and any challenges by the defense will be determined through the normal pretrial process. Publicly available reports do not show that a judge has yet ruled on those questions.
Grier also described what prosecutors contend happened immediately before and after the call. Authorities say Arias-Brown entered his father’s apartment at about 12:30 a.m. Sept. 7. A neighbor heard a loud bang and then Brown screaming, according to the prosecution. The witness later reported seeing Arias-Brown leave the apartment several minutes after the emergency call. Police arriving in the area located him walking approximately half a mile from the residence and arrested him. A police spokesperson separately told Newsday that the arrest occurred at 1:32 a.m. on Hawthorne Street.
The prosecutor added another layer to the state’s case at the arraignment. Arias-Brown’s clothing, hands and backpack were bloodied when officers found him, and he had a cut on his hand, Grier said, according to Newsday. She told the court that investigators had also recovered a bloodied knife from a garbage can outside the apartment and submitted it to the Suffolk County Crime Laboratory for testing. No final forensic result for the knife was found in the reliable public reports reviewed through Nov. 6.
Edward Brown was still inside the apartment when police and Mastic Volunteer Ambulance Company personnel arrived. Suffolk County police said they attempted life-saving measures, but he was pronounced dead there. Prosecutors later said an autopsy showed he had sustained approximately 40 stab wounds. Authorities have released no verified public account establishing why the confrontation occurred. The indictment describes the alleged killing, but a motive is not required to be publicly known for prosecutors to pursue a murder charge.
Horowitz ordered Arias-Brown held while the case proceeds. District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney said after the indictment that Brown had tried to summon police while the attack was underway and called the circumstances heartbreaking. Tierney said the indictment represented a step toward holding the person responsible accountable. His statement reflected the prosecution’s position; it was not a judicial finding of guilt. Arias-Brown remains legally presumed innocent unless prosecutors prove the charge beyond a reasonable doubt or the case is resolved through another lawful disposition.
Defense attorney Katherine Fernandez supplied the clearest public indication of how the defense may frame Arias-Brown’s circumstances, though not necessarily its ultimate legal strategy. She told the court that her client had documented mental health concerns, was receiving medication in jail and understood the proceedings. Fernandez also said Arias-Brown had no previous criminal convictions. Those statements do not establish a defense to murder, and the reporting reviewed for this article does not show that Fernandez has publicly claimed that mental illness caused the alleged killing or made Arias-Brown legally incapable of responsibility.
A separate criminal case adds procedural complexity. Suffolk County police arrested Arias-Brown in May on a third-degree robbery charge after a man allegedly entered a TD Bank branch in Lake Ronkonkoma, handed a teller a demand note and left with cash. That allegation predates Brown’s death by several months. Fernandez noted during the murder proceeding that the robbery case had not gone to trial. Because the two cases involve different events, the bank allegation does not establish guilt in the homicide case and must be treated independently.
What happens next will depend heavily on pretrial litigation and the evidence prosecutors are able to present. The emergency call may be examined for admissibility and context. The neighbor’s identification may be tested through cross-examination. Laboratory work could clarify whether the recovered knife is connected to Brown, Arias-Brown or both. The defense can also challenge the state’s reconstruction of the timeline and seek discovery concerning police procedures, forensic testing and witness accounts. None of those potential disputes has been resolved merely because a grand jury returned an indictment.
The indictment itself also carries a narrower legal meaning than a conviction. A grand jury determines whether prosecutors have presented enough evidence for a criminal case to proceed; it does not decide guilt under the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard used at trial. Arias-Brown’s not-guilty plea preserved his right to contest the charge. Prosecutors, in turn, will bear the burden of proving the elements of second-degree murder should the case reach a jury.
September reports said Arias-Brown’s next court date was scheduled for Oct. 21. A review of reliable publicly indexed reporting through Nov. 6 did not identify a confirmed account of what occurred at that appearance or establish a new trial date. The most recent independently verifiable status remains that Arias-Brown had been ordered held while the second-degree murder case was pending, with no adjudication of guilt reported.
Author note: Last updated November 6, 2026.