Nearly 20 years after a Chattanooga man pleaded guilty to two separate murders his new trial in the first death began today.

Fredrick "Bay Bay" Brown pleaded guilty on April 27, 1993, to charges that he'd shot Samuel Richard Scott four times on Sept. 5, 1991, and then shot Corey Strickland on March 24, 1992, while free on bond and awaiting trial for the first murder charge.

Both victims died from their wounds.

Brown has lived in prison since his plea. He was denied an appeal but later granted a new trial due to how he was sentenced following his guilty plea.

The court sentenced Brown to life in prison on both counts to run concurrently, meaning a the same time. He was sentenced to serve 60 years in prison and eligible for parole after he served 36 years.

The law also stated that a defendant could not receive a concurrent sentence on separate crimes committed while free on bond.

Brown successfully argued that the sentence should have been consecutive, meaning both life sentences run one after the other.

The court agreed and has granted him a new trial in both murder charges.

He faces a jury today in the first murder case.

For more see tomorrow's Times Free Press.