plpromo-lottery-2.0-sq.jpg

The trial between two Mechanicsburg-area brothers feuding over a $1 million winning scratch off ticket began Tuesday in Cumberland County Court.

(File. )

Little more than a year ago, they were knocking back beers together in a Hampden Township bar.

Fast-forward to Tuesday, and the two brothers were duking it out in front of a jury in Cumberland County court.

The trial between two Mechanicsburg-area brothers feuding over a $1 million lottery ticket purchased at Johnny Joe's bar and grill on the afternoon of May 21, 2013, started today.

And the narrative of the first day in Judge Christylee Peck's court reads like it did in the lawsuit Ira Sharp filed against his half-brother, Thomas Meehan, and the written court response the defendant's attorney filed on his behalf.

Sharp and his attorney, R. Mark Thomas, and Meehan and his lawyer, Douglas Miller, agree on most of the details that led up to and followed Meehan winning $1 million from an instant scratch-off lottery ticket he bought at the bar.

Sharp and Meehan both agree that they were drinking a few beers together and scratching off lottery tickets the afternoon it was purchased at Johnny Joe's.

And under questioning, Meehan said Sharp gave him the $20 he used to buy the jackpot ticket.

However, as Thomas told the jury, Sharp gave his brother the money under one condition: If he wins, the two split the bounty down the middle.

That's the epicenter of the disagreement between the two men.

Meehan claims he never even asked his brother for the $20.

After telling Sharp that he was done buying tickets for the day, Meehan claims his brother slid him a $20, telling him to buy one more ticket.

Both agree that Meehan slid the money back to Sharp. And neither disputes that Sharp told him that he should take it because if Meehan didn't, then he would play it himself.

So Meehan took the money, because he said he considered it a gift, and that Sharp owed him some money, anyway.

But he denies that Sharp mentioned anything about the two splitting the winnings, which Meehan said he elected to keep well over half of in the bank as the court proceedings continue. After taxes, Meehan received a $750,000 check from the Pennsylvania Lottery.

After Meehan scratched off the winning ticket, both men said they went to the bathroom together at Johnny Joe's, where Meehan said he told Sharp to keep his mouth shut, that they would go back to the bar, finish their drinks and then head to Meehan's house to celebrate.

And this is where the differences continue to grow.

Sharp claims that when they got back to Meehan's house, they decided they would go the Pennsylvania Lottery headquarters together the next day, cash in the ticket and live happily ever after.

Not so, Meehan said under questioning.

No such verbal agreement existed. And he said he did offer to help his brother out financially, and the rest of his family, but not before paying off his house and buying a few things for himself.

Meehan admitted that he lied to his brother the day he took the ticket and cashed it in by himself.

He told Sharp it turned out to not be a winning ticket, after all, and the reason he lied:

"Because he pissed me off," Meehan said.

Sharp said he tried to call his brother a few times on May 22, the day Meehan cashed in the ticket.

Meehan said he eventually called his brother back that afternoon.

And when he called, Meehan said the first thing out of Sharp's mouth was: "Where the [expletive] is my money at."

Meehan said the angry tone his brother took with him is what pushed him to lie about the ticket.

Thomas didn't appear to buy that explanation as he cross-examined Meehan toward the end of the first day of the trial.

He asked Meehan whether he came up with the lie in three to four seconds after picking up the phone, or if, instead, he hatched the plan throughout the day, before returning his brother's call.

During his opening arguments, Thomas told the jury that while the agreement Sharp and Meehan had was verbal, it's still enforceable.

And he said the jury "must decide whose testimony is credible, whose testimony makes sense. I ask that you listen to the testimony, listen to the cross-examination of the witnesses and use your common sense."

Miller also spoke of the importance of contracts and agreements during his opening arguments, saying "for oral contracts, when a party seeks to enforce it, they must establish the terms and conditions that made up the contract and the agreement itself."

The first day of the trial lasted roughly four hours, and will continue at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.