Ten years after renowned physicist Eugene Mallove was beaten to death in the driveway of his childhood home in Norwich, a judge will hear testimony to determine whether the state has enough evidence to prosecute the second man accused of Mallove’s slaying.

A probable cause hearing in the case of Mozzelle Brown, 40, is scheduled to begin this morning in New London Superior Court before Judge Hillary B. Strackbein. Brown is charged with murder, felony murder and first-degree robbery.  Prosecutor Paul J. Narducci said he expects to call to the witness stand three Norwich policemen who were involved in the investigation. Narducci said he does not expect the hearing to conclude today.

In Connecticut, defendants accused of charges that could result in life sentences are entitled to a preliminary hearing known as a hearing of probable cause.  In order to continue prosecuting Brown, the state must prove the crime of murder probably occurred and that the defendant probably committed it.

Mallove, 56, of Pembroke, NH was beaten to death in the driveway of his childhood home at 119 Salem Turnpike on May 14, 2004. The tenants had been evicted about a month earlier, and Mallove was cleaning out the house, which belong to his mother.

Police obtained a warrant for Brown’s arrest in 2010, but did not immediately arrest him since he was in federal prison in Ohio serving 15 a year sentence for drug and firearms offenses. The police brought him back to Connecticut in November 2013 to face the murder charges.

Brown is accused accosting Mallove with his cousin, Chad Schaffer and leaving him bloodied and beaten in the driveway. Schaffer’s girlfriend, Candace L. Foster, has testified that the two men returned to her and Schaffer’s apartment with bloody clothing. She said the two men took her back to the Mallove property, where Mallove was lying on the ground begging for help, and made her take part in the continued attack.

Schaffer, Brown, and Foster did not come into focus as suspects until police reopened the Mallove case following the exoneration in 2008 of two initial suspects. In 2012, in the midst of a trial in Norwich, Schaffer accepted an offer from the state to plead guilty to first-degree manslaughter in exchange for a 16-year prison sentence.  

Foster, who is cooperating with the state, remains incarcerated at the Janet S. York Correctional Institution and is unable to resolve her case until Brown’s case has been resolved. Narducci said he expects to call Foster to the witness stand at a later date when her attorney, Richard F. Kelly, is available.