Retired U.S. Army Special Forces master sergeant Jeremy Brown remains in jail while his attorney advocates for his release under President Donald Trump’s pardon for Jan. 6 crimes.
Brown, a Tampa resident sentenced to seven years on weapons charges, is among a handful of still-incarcerated convicts who are most associated with the 2021 U.S. Capitol riot, but who were charged with other crimes outside of Washington, D.C.
The argument being made for Brown’s release: His other crimes came to light only through the course of Jan. 6 investigations.
As hundreds of prisoners walked free following Trump’s proclamation, Brown, 50, was transferred last week from a Washington, D.C., jail to the Grayson County Detention Center in Kentucky. The reason for the transfer is unclear.
A jury in 2022 convicted Brown on charges of possessing an unregistered sawed-off shotgun, a short-barrelled rifle, fragmentation grenades and a classified military document. Federal agents said they’d found them on his Florida property while serving a search warrant related to Jan. 6 and his ties to the Oath Keepers, a militaristic extremist group that entered the Capitol.
Brown also was charged with two misdemeanors for attending the Jan. 6 riot, where he was photographed in a helmet and military gear. Those charges, court records show, were dropped shortly after the president’s pardon.
A memo prepared by one of Brown’s attorneys with the heading “Free Jeremy Brown” argues that the pardon should apply to Brown’s federal convictions for crimes in Florida because they are “100% J6 related as required by the Presidential Proclamation. Jeremy was arrested and imprisoned based on J6 allegations that led to a pretextual search warrant.”
That lawyer, Plant City-based Carolyn Stewart, posted online Saturday that “our facts have reached the White House & the solution is in the works.”
Other “J6ers” with similarly unclear pardon situations include Homosassa’s Daniel Ball, 38, who was released and quickly re-arrested on a warrant for gun possession – a charge that emerged from a search related to Jan. 6.
Dominic Box, who was awaiting sentencing for felony civil disorder, remains in the same Kentucky jail as Brown. While awaiting trial for his Jan. 6 charges, Box was arrested by a deputy who said he found him passed out in his car outside a Jacksonville restaurant.
Ben Martin, a California man convicted of illegally possessing eight firearms that agents found during a Jan. 6-related search, also remains in custody after his Jan. 6 charges were pardoned.
Calls for the release of these so-called “left-behind J6ers” have been amplified in right-wing media and spread through pro-MAGA corners of the internet since the president issued his pardons on his first day back in office. A common refrain: “No man left behind.”
Close Trump ally Roger Stone posted on X about Brown and Martin, writing “I will not rest until these victims are free. In fact, I’m working on it right now.” Former CBS News journalist turned right-wing pundit Lara Logan has also advocated for Brown’s release.
Stewart’s memo on Brown reiterates a claim that Brown’s former attorney made at trial – that federal agents planted the grenades and other evidence. They cited forensics showing the items lacked Brown’s DNA.
The jury, which heard audio of Brown reacting to news that agents found the grenades, apparently didn’t believe that defense. Jurors convicted Brown on six federal charges, including the grenades, and found him not guilty of four.
Brown appealed. Oral arguments in that appellate case are scheduled for March 6 at the U.S. courthouse in Jacksonville.
In a lengthy statement at his sentencing in Tampa, Brown mentioned his connection to Jan. 6, 2021, suggesting the riot was orchestrated by the FBI.
Brown has maintained a public presence despite years of incarceration, recording podcasts over the phone and running an unsuccessful campaign for the Florida House of Representatives from jail.
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