Retired Inexperienced Beret, Grasp Sergeant Jeremy Brown, donated 20 years of his time on Earth in service to our Nation by signing a clean test for as much as and together with his personal life. I actually, being a Marine Corps infantryman and fight veteran, felt it was my obligation as a Marine and a journalist to inform his story after sitting by means of everything of his trial in December 2022. I used to be disheartened that I used to be the one consultant of a nationwide publication within the courtroom so far as I might inform.
I used to be shocked and deeply saddened by what our personal authorities did to this man who devoted his life in service of it.
MSgt Brown confronted 10 prices in complete and was discovered responsible of 6 out of the ten. He was discovered not responsible of counts 6-9 referring to a CD with categorised info. Extra on that later.
Counts 1 & 2 had been associated to the possession of two “illegal” firearms that weren’t registered as NFA firearms. NFA is brief for the Nationwide Firearms Act of 1934, which basically makes unlawful sure kinds of firearms with out important authorities registration necessities being met. The record of NFA units contains computerized weapons, silencers/suppressors, and, amongst others, short-barreled rifles and shotguns, and “destructive devices”. The latter two had been amongst MSgt Brown’s convictions. MSgt Brown admitted in court docket to the possession of these two gadgets when he took the stand in his protection however argued that it was his Constitutional Proper below the Second Modification to own them.
You possibly can help J6er retired MSgt Jeremy Brown in his Appeals case by donating here.
Grasp Sergeant Jeremy Brown’s Story –
MSgt Brown was in Washington DC on this present day three years in the past. He was there to supply safety for a few of the people that had been talking that day. MSgt Brown by no means entered the US Capitol constructing.
Previous to January sixth, MSgt Brown was approached at his home by two federal agents with the Dept. of Homeland Safety about “some online stuff…about posting some things online.” After that interplay, MSgt Brown met with two FBI Joint Terrorism Process Drive (JTTF) brokers in Ybor Metropolis on Dec ninth, 2020, the place he believes they had been making an attempt to recruit him as a possible confidential human supply (CHS). The brokers alluded to one thing probably taking place in January. This assembly happened earlier than President Trump had tweeted about going to DC on January sixth.
On January sixth, MSgt Brown was, as talked about, in DC. He didn’t go into the Capitol. In truth, he’s on video saving a girl’s life that day. MSgt Brown was charged with Trespassing…a misdemeanor. On September thirtieth, 2021, the FBI JTTF despatched 20 automobiles to his home to arrest him for a misdemeanor.
Through the ensuing search, the place the FBI disabled all 14 of his CCTV cameras, they “discovered” two M67 fragmentation grenades, two NFA firearms, and a CD with categorised info.
The M67 grenades had been present in two grenade pouches on his flak jacket inside his RV. The categorised CD was additionally alleged to have been found in there. Through the trial, the FBI’s photographer testified that she didn’t recall seeing the CD throughout her documenting of the proof. The CD was contained in a blue clear CD jewel case with a giant crimson sticker marked “SECRET” on it.
Later, a photograph surfaced with a small little nook of a case beneath papers. That was the one proof the CD was discovered within the RV. {A photograph} of the CD and case in its entirety was photographed, nonetheless, the woodgrain desk it was on was not from any of MSgt Brown’s floor in his residence or RV.
MSgt Brown’s legal professional argued in his opening statements that he would present the FBI planted the CD. And apparently, the jury agreed as they discovered him “not guilty” of its possession for counts 6-9.
With that in thoughts, the idea that it was argued the FBI JTTF planted proof in opposition to MSgt Brown and he was discovered “not guilty”, contemplate the next: he was discovered responsible of possession of two harmful units: M67 frag grenades.
The grenades had been present in two pouches on MSgt Brown’s flak jacket inside his RV. As soon as they “found” the grenades, your entire space was cleared and secured so a bomb squad might intervene. Bear in mind: your entire time, legislation enforcement reduce all of the feeds to his 14 CCTV cameras all through his property so there isn’t a report of what happened as soon as the crime scene was cleared.
The grenades had been wrapped with duct tape that had some sticky elements uncovered. On the tape, forensics recovered a human hair, canine hair, textile fibers, and two samples of male DNA from the tape and grenades. None of the forensics recovered matched MSgt Brown’s personal DNA. None matched both of MSgt Brown’s two canines or cat. None matched the carpet fibers in his home or RV.
And there have been no fingerprints discovered on the grenade. A profession Particular Forces Operator, a few of the most clever people we’ve got in our navy, was careless sufficient to have all that DNA and forensic proof on the grenades, however he was sensible sufficient to both deal with the grenade with gloves or wipe any hint of fingerprints from them?
MSgt Brown requested a TRACE report for these grenades, not the federal government, almost a yr after his arrest. A TRACE report tracks the “lot” of the grenades (appx 34,000 grenades on this lot) from their creation all through their lifetime. There have been occasions all through the lot’s “travels” that they had been in Iraq and Afghanistan, however with out the dates and occasions, there was no option to show they had been at these places on the similar time as MSgt Brown.
The argument was that MSgt Brown had taken them whereas on deployment and saved them. Nevertheless, as any deployed servicemember is aware of, whenever you come residence from a fight zone, you might be topic to a US Customs search that makes a TSA strip-search appear like a Wal-Mart greeter glancing over your receipt…for those who’re even stopped in any respect. US Customs goes by means of every part.
As he identified in an interview final yr although, the grenades are at the moment in two locations: Kuwait and Kentucky. The portion of the lot in Kentucky is on the Bluegrass Depot, however extra particularly, the Bluegrass Particular Applications Workplace. MSgt Brown advised me in an interview final yr (under) that:
“In a world of covert and clandestine operations, anytime you see the word “other” or “special” or “programs”, often its a red-flag that that’s some sort of specialised exercise. Like a particular missions unit. Like particular operations forces. Like particular initiatives ranch. Like particular actions…that could be very suspicious to me even when first noticed it. However what’s extra suspicious to me is that I needed to request the TRACE on these grenades, however two that their very own skilled testified that they’ve the capabilities on every of these places, the date/time group, the dates and occasions, of which these lot numbers had been at that particular location. And but the FBI by no means investigated the dates and occasions. Why? As a result of it’s very simple to inform civilians ‘oh well he was in Iraq and Afghanistan and these places are in Iraq and Afghanistan’.”
The prosecutors tried to make use of a jail telephone name between MSgt Brown and his long-time girlfriend the morning after he was initially arrested (their first dialog). In that telephone name, she advised him they discovered, amongst different issues, “grenades”. Through the trial, it was implied that the second of silence slightly than shock was acknowledgement of the unlawful grenades being his.
Nevertheless, as MSgt Brown advised us, the decision was reduce off a second later and the follow-up name was not performed. He defined to us that he has air-soft grenades and so, as she was studying the record of proof taken, he wasn’t essentially stunned.
This was apparently a pivotal second as, throughout deliberations, the jury got here again into the courtroom to listen to that telephone name once more.
Lastly, MSgt Brown was convicted of getting a single categorised doc (rely 10) that associated to the Bowe Berghdahl “rescue” mission in Could 2014. Through the trial, this doc got here up with skilled witnesses again and again and the one actual protection being mounted by MSgt Brown’s legal professional was asking if it was a draft or the ultimate copy, to which the response was usually that it was irrelevant as a result of its nonetheless categorised info. Sitting within the courtroom, I used to be perplexed.
However when MSgt Brown testified in his personal protection, a uncommon transfer usually not beneficial by counsel, he revealed why that was not solely related, however ought to have been exonerating. However it apparently went over the jury’s head: the doc was a draft and contained no categorised info in any way.
When MSgt Brown was touring again to america after the mission, he started drafting the journey report on one among his flights. As he testified, anyplace the place categorised info was to be disclosed, MSgt Brown would insert bogus info that couldn’t be categorised…as a result of he made it up. The specialists who testified for the prosecution apparently didn’t do any due diligence to confirm the veracity of the data in MSgt Brown’s draft report. For instance, whenever you point out a reputation in a categorised doc, it’s usually written in code. That code is then referenced on safe units to reveal the identify that’s being referred to. In his “classified” doc, all the numbers would have referred to nothing. He made them up. He was, one way or the other, discovered responsible nonetheless of possession of a categorised doc.
MSgt Jeremy Brown is at the moment serving a 7 year 3 month sentence in federal prison in Florida.
You possibly can learn extra in regards to the case here and hearken to MSgt Brown throughout an interview we carried out with him final yr:
MSgt Brown’s Enchantment: The Second Modification Argument
MSgt Brown was convicted of getting a short-barreled rifle and a .410 shotgun with a sawed-off buttstock (a household heirloom modified by his not too long ago deceased brother). A .410 shotgun is a really small caliber shotgun spherical that’s usually used for killing varmint like rats, snakes, birds, and many others. It’s not recurrently thought of an sufficient protection spherical in opposition to human targets.
In his attraction, MSgt Brown’s counsel argues that “26 USC 5861(d) – which punishes, as a felony, possession of an unregistered shotgun/rifle having a short barrel – is a facially unconstitutional restriction on a person’s Second Amendment right to bear arms.”
The premise for this argument is New York State Rifle and Pistol Ass’n, Inc. v. Bruen, which was determined by the Supreme Courtroom in 2022 which held that “lower courts had been incorrect in reading precedent to require a means-end analysis in evaluating the Second Amendment claims.”
The Bruen determination requires that Second Modification legal guidelines have to be “on the basis of both text and history, that the Second Amendment conferred an individual right to keep and bear arms.” The Supreme Courtroom said:
When the Second Modification’s plain textual content covers a person’s conduct, the Structure presumptively protects that conduct. The federal government should then justify its regulation by demonstrating that it’s consist with the Nation’s historic custom of firearms regulation. Solely then might a court docket conclude that the person’s conduct falls exterior the Second Modification’s “unqualified command.”
One other phrases, are present legal guidelines regulating firearms in step with what the framers of the Structure and the “scope they were understood to have when the people adopted them.”
Within the case of District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Courtroom held that “on the basis of both text and history, that the Second Amendment conferred an individual right to keep and bear arms” for self-defense (“essential to the safety of a free State).
However in 1939, in United States v. Miller, the Supreme Courtroom decided that whereas “use of a shotgun having a barrel of less than eighteen inches in length…has some reasonable relationship to the…efficiency of a well-regulated militia, we cannot say that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear such an instrument.”
MSgt Brown’s counsel argues that “when the Supreme Court made this statement in Miller, it was not considering how such a weapon could be used for self-defense” and that Bruen held that “when a statute limits an individual’s ability to bear a weapon commonly used in self-defense, the Constitution presumptively protects an individual’s right to bear that weapon.”:
“The government must show that a short-barreled shotgun was a “dangerous and unusual weapon” on the time the Second Modification was enacted. Appellant Brown submits that the historic information present it was not.”
Within the time of the framing of our Structure, there have been a number of lawful firearms that had barrel lengths starting from barely greater than 12 inches to virtually 23 inches in size, together with the blunderbuss, a predecessor to the shotgun. The blunderbuss was a shoulder-fired weapon with a flared muzzle and a barrel size of simply 15.25 inches.
With a number of examples supplied exhibiting that so-called “short barreled rifles” and shotguns had been in circulation on the time the Structure was signed, the temporary states:
“It follows that the Government cannot demonstrate that a restriction on the possession of short-barreled shotguns/rifles is consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation. There is no evidence of any regulation of short-barreled shotguns or rifles before the enactment of the NFA in 1934 (i.e., no regulation in the 143 years between the adoption/ratification of the Second Amendment and the enactment of the NFA).”
The attraction additionally argues:
“Unlike bombs, artillery, and other such weapons of war, a short-barreled shotgun/rifle should not be considered a “dangerous and unusual” weapon. In keeping with the ATF’s 2021 Firearm Commerce Report at 16, as of Could 2021, there have been roughly 532,000 registered short-barreled rifles in america and roughly 162,000 short-barreled shotguns…Certainly, it’s obscure a rational foundation for proscribing the possession of a short-barreled shotgun/rifle greater than a handgun – which is clearly a lot smaller and simpler to hide. The overwhelming majority of crimes don’t contain firearms, however those who do are dedicated with handguns versus rifles of any sort.”
Lastly, MSgt Brown’s counsel argues that the NFA doesn’t “prohibit short-barreled rifles, but rather requires that they be taxed and registered with the federal government.” In Bruen, the Supreme Courtroom dominated that “shall-issue” licensing just isn’t unconstitutional, nonetheless, additionally they said “because any permitting scheme can be put towards abusive ends, we do not rule out constitutional challenges to shall-issue regimes, where, for example, lengthy wait times in processing license applications or exorbitant fees deny ordinary citizens their right to public carry.”
It at the moment takes roughly one yr and prices a whole lot of {dollars} to acquire an NFA firearm or gadget and is “therefore…a valid subject of the Second Amendment challenge.”
We are going to replace you on the progress of this Enchantment because it strikes by means of the Eleventh Circuit Courtroom of Appeals.
Jeremy Brown Appeal by CannCon
