J6er’s Florida conviction is covered by President Trump’s Jan. 20 pardon, DOJ says

More than a month after President Donald J. Trump issued Jan. 6 pardons and commutations, the U.S. Department of Justice concluded that both criminal cases brought against Oath Keeper Jeremy Brown are covered by the president’s pardon declaration, clearing the way for Brown’s release from an Atlanta prison.

In a filing in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel J. Marcet penned the words Brown has been waiting to hear for 36 days.

“Based on consultation with Department of Justice leadership, it is the position of the United States that the offenses of conviction in this case are intended to be covered by this Pardon,” Marcet wrote in a two-page filing.

Brown’s pardon situation as it stands now would mean Brown is considered by the law to be a felon who cannot possess firearms. The DOJ could also seek to vacate Brown’s Florida conviction through the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, but there is no indication so far that is planned. Blaze News has reached out to the DOJ for clarification but had not received a response by publication time.

Weapons charges grew from Jan. 6 warrant

Brown, 50, of Tampa, was convicted of a smattering of weapons-related and classified document charges in April 2023 in a case that sprang from a search of his home authorized as part of the FBI’s sweeping Jan. 6 investigation. The conviction led to an 87-month prison sentence doled out by U.S. District Judge Susan Bucklew.

Brown has appealed his federal Florida conviction. Oral arguments in the appeal are scheduled to be heard March 6 in Jacksonville, Fla.

The new filing makes clear that the DOJ under President Trump considers both the D.C. charges and Florida charges against Brown to be “related” to Jan. 6 and thus covered by the pardon. On a motion from the new U.S. Attorney in D.C., Brown’s District of Columbia case was dismissed with prejudice on Jan. 28. That case had not yet proceeded to trial.

During a search of Brown’s home and recreational vehicle in September 2021, the FBI found two firearms with short barrels that should have been registered with the federal government. Brown said the rifle and shotgun were family heirlooms that belonged to his late father and late brother.

The FBI also claimed it found two fragmentation grenades inside Brown’s RV that he allegedly brought to D.C. on Jan. 6. However, the FBI lab could not link the explosives to Brown via DNA, fingerprints, carpet fibers, and even a dog hair found underneath one of the devices. Brown said the grenades were planted.

Brown’s case became one of the most prominent Jan. 6 prosecutions because the former Green Beret revealed that weeks before Jan. 6, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force tried to recruit him to spy on the Oath Keepers. He refused. Three months later, Brown released a recording of his JTTF meeting, which he said was the true motivation for the DOJ’s prosecution of him.

After initially being told by D.C. jail officials that he would be released after President Trump’s pardons, Brown said he was informed by U.S. Marshals that his Florida conviction would prevent his release because it wasn’t considered a Jan. 6 case. Shortly after, Brown was loaded in a van and shuttled through two detention centers in Kentucky before being deposited at the federal lockup in Atlanta.

A Georgia-based attorney filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus on Feb. 6 in federal court in Atlanta. The defendant in that case, the warden of the FCI Atlanta prison, was given 60 days to show cause why the writ should not be issued.

A writ of habeas corpus — Latin for “you have the body” — compels law enforcement authorities “to produce a prisoner they are holding, and to justify the prisoner’s continued confinement,” according to U.S. courts.

Brown is among several pardoned Jan. 6 defendants who have not been released from federal custody due to questions surrounding one of their cases.

Elias Nick Costianes Jr., 46, of Nottingham, Md., also had two criminal cases brought against him, both springing from an FBI search of his residence. His D.C. charges were dismissed with prejudice in January, but questions lingered whether his Maryland federal charges should be covered by President Trump’s pardon declaration.

Benjamin Martin at the U.S. Capitol with fiancee, Cara. (Photos courtesy of Brad Geyer)

Costianes was ordered to report to federal prison on Feb. 12 on his Maryland-based conviction.

The DOJ filed a motion in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit stating it believes the Maryland charges were covered by the presidential pardon. However, a judge has yet to act on the emergency Court of Appeals motion that should lead to Costianes’ release from prison.

Benjamin John Martin, 46, of Madera, Calif., also remains behind prison bars weeks after his D.C. Jan. 6 case was dismissed with prejudice. He continues to be held because the DOJ has maintained that the California-based federal weapons charges against him were not related to Jan. 6.

When the FBI raided Martin’s home as part of its Jan. 6 investigation, it pried open a gun safe in the garage that contained a number of firearms. As someone with a domestic violence misdemeanor on his record, Martin was not allowed to possess firearms, according to prosecutors.

In his federal appeal, Martin is challenging the constitutionality of the lifetime weapons ban based on a onetime misdemeanor conviction.

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