Laila Kirkpatrick, Staff Writer
The Virginia Supreme Court has overturned the conviction of a man serving two life sentences for a 2018 double homicide in Loudoun County.
Brian Kuang-Ming Welsh was sentenced in June 2021 by Circuit Court Judge James Fisher for the murders of Mala Manwani, 65, and her son Rishi, 32, in their home in Aldie. However, on Thursday, the state’s highest court reversed the ruling, citing the judge’s refusal to allow testimony from a defense firearms expert. The court ruled that this exclusion was not a “harmless error,” as previously determined.
Prosecutors argued that Welsh shot the Manwanis multiple times in their home on Tomey Court in January 2018. A jury convicted him in February 2021, alleging that he killed the pair to steal $3,000 from Rishi Manwani, whom he claimed had been dealing drugs from the home.
During the trial, Welsh’s defense sought to challenge the findings of the prosecution’s firearms expert, who testified that cartridge casings found at the scene matched Welsh’s pistol. The defense argued that excluding their expert witness undermined Welsh’s right to a fair trial.
