At a hearing yesterday before Westmoreland County Judge Christopher Feliciani, Clayton Mibroda pressed for a new trial on charges that he killed his 20-day-old daughter in 2011, basing his appeal on a letter he says he got in February from an Indiana man who is serving time for aggravated assault of his stepson in 2015.
The 32-year-old Mibroda, who is from Bolivar, contends his daughter Natalee died at the hands of her mother, Kayla Lichtenfels. Natalee was pronounced dead at the Indiana Regional Medical Center on December 27th, 2011.
Mibroda told the judge he got a letter from 29-year-old Brandon Green telling him that Green had information he claimed would exonerate Mibroda. Green had a previous relationship with Lichtenfels. Prosecutors pointed out that Green’s name has come up before in appeals that were already rejected. Feliciani appointed attorney Tim Andrews to investigate Green’s claim and said he would hold an evidentiary hearing on the findings in sixty days. He ruled, however, that Mibroda is not entitled to a public defender to represent him in further proceedings, and said Mibroda must either hire a private attorney or represent himself.
Mibroda has been turned down multiple times in appeals of his conviction. He’s serving fifteen to thirty years in prison for third degree murder.
