Why a federal judge has ordered Quintez Brown jailed until trial in attempted murder case

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Citing the potential danger, a federal judge on Tuesday ordered activist Quintez Brown jailed pending his trial on charges he used a gun to interfere with a mayoral election by attempting to shoot Democratic primary candidate Craig Greenberg.

U.S. District Judge Benjamin Beaton reversed Magistrate Judge Colin Lindsay, who had ordered Brown held on home incarceration.

In a 16-page ruling, Beaton noted that Brown, a former Courier Journal intern, had no prior criminal record and achieved an "impressive record of academic achievement” and “community engagement in his first 20 years.”

But Beaton cited evidence offered by the government that Brown purchased a gun, practiced using it and traveled at night to Greenberg’s home, where the weapon apparently jammed.

Beaton said the next morning, on Valentine’s Day, Brown bought a second gun, entered the candidate’s campaign headquarters, and fired six shots into a room of five people.

Nobody was injured, but one shot tore a hole through Greenberg’s sweater, Beaton said.

Beaton, who was appointed to the bench in 2020 by President Donald Trump, said while release before trial is the norm for most offenses, detention is presumed appropriate for a class of serious crimes.

Beaton noted that Brown disappeared last summer before he was found on a park bench in New York, indicating he is a flight risk, especially given the potential maximum sentence of life for using a gun in the crime.

Beaton said Brown in January published an article titled "A Revolutionary Love Letter" that described the United States as a country in a state of “political warfare,” condemned the political system as “[in]sufficient for our liberation,” and encouraged readers to reject “outdated programs and modalities that lead to … self-destruction” in favor of “action along a variety of lines."

Two days later, Brown purchased a Smith & Wesson revolver and visited a shooting range where he practiced loading, aiming and shooting his new gun, Beaton said.

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While Beaton commended Brown’s family and friends for supporting him, he said if returned to home detention, “no set of conditions could reasonably ensure he wouldn’t again leave the state or threaten the safety of the candidate or others in the community. The alleged crime remains incomplete, the campaign remains in full swing” and the first gun remains unrecovered.

Brown’s lawyers, Rob Eggert, Tricia Lister and Patrick Renn, had asked for continued home incarceration, saying it would allow their client to be treated for mental illness.

But Beaton, summarizing the evidence of Brown’s continued danger and flight risk, granted the government’s appeal, revoked Lindsay’s release order, and ordered Brown’s continued detention.

Eggert said he and his fellow co-counsel were disappointed in the ruling but not surprised.

"Obviously, this is why the powers had Quintez charged in federal court so that he could be put in jail without bond and give him 15 or 20 years in prison," Eggert said.

"Having said that, we continue to hope this defendant, who suffers from mental illness, will at some point be treated with some measure of fairness and compassion."

No date has been set for the trial.

Brown is also charged in state court with attempted murder and wanton endangerment. He pleaded not guilty.

Andrew Wolfson: 502-582-7189; awolfson@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @adwolfson.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Quintez Brown to stay in jail in attempted shooting of mayor candidate