Quintez Brown detained for now as new evidence is revealed in the Craig Greenberg shooting
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A federal magistrate judge Friday ordered activist Quintez Brown released to home incarceration, but then stayed his decision at the prosecution's request until it can be reviewed by a higher ranking federal judge.
The government had sought an order detaining Brown pending trial on charges that accuse him of trying to kill Democratic mayoral candidate Craig Greenberg.
Magistrate Judge Colin Lindsay's order came despite federal prosecutors presenting new evidence that Brown planned the attack in advance and targeted Greenberg.
That included a surveillance video showing Brown buying the firearm prosecutors say was used in the Valentine's Day attack later the same morning, and evidence that Brown went to Greenberg's home the night before with another gun that jammed.
Then Brown searched on the internet for information on how to unjam the weapon, Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Gregory said.
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Prosecutors presented no witnesses, but Gregory also said agents had obtained surveillance videos showing Brown practicing shooting at an Indiana gun range.
Gregory said computer records also show Brown searched for the office location of another mayoral candidate he opposed. The name of that candidate was not disclosed.
She also disclosed that records from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives described at the hearing show Brown had purchased a gun Jan. 12, one month before he was charged in state court with attempted murder and wanton endangerment.
Gregory was joined in her presentation by Justice Department attorney Jolee Porter, who works in the department's public integrity section.
Brown is is facing a federal indictment accusing him of interfering with an election by trying to kill a political candidate. He is also charged with a gun offense.
Both federal crimes are punishable by life in prison. Brown has pleaded not guilty.
Lindsay had ordered Brown released to home detention, assigning both University of Louisville professor Ricky Jones and Brown's grandmothers as his guardian. But Lindsay delayed his order until it can be reviewed by U.S. District Judge Benjamin Beaton.
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One of Brown’s lawyers, Rob Eggert, told Lindsay Friday that Brown should be allowed to return to home incarceration at his grandmother’s house, according to news accounts.
A psychiatrist testified for the defense that Brown was diagnosed at Our Lady of Peace with major depressive disorder, while another psychiatrist said Brown has bipolar disorder with thoughts of suicide.
Testifying for the defense, Jones, Brown’s mentor and chairman of the Department of Pan African Studies at the University of Louisville and a Courier Journal columnist, testified he would take in Brown — even though he has a teenage daughter who lives with him — if Brown were released from federal custody.
Jones testified Brown was “one of the most brilliant minds I’ve ever met.”
Three other U of L faculty members spoke glowingly about Brown but acknowledged on cross-examination that they hadn't seen him in months.
After Brown was charged in state court in February with attempted murder and wanton endangerment, he was ordered held on a $100,000 bond. But a nonprofit bail fund group posted that bond and he was released on home incarceration.
He was at his grandmother’s home when he was seized by federal agents on the new federal indictment.
He has been held at the Grayson County Detention Center, where federal defendants are often detained pending trial.
In the federal system, defendants are either freed or detained if there is evidence they are dangerous.
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Brown, a former student at U of L, also wrote editorials as a freelancer and as an intern for The Courier Journal.
No one was injured in the Valentine's Day shooting, but a bullet ripped a hole in Greenberg's sweater. Four campaign staffers also were present when the office was attacked.
On Wednesday, Brown's attorneys, Eggert, Patrick Renn and Tricia Lister, moved to dismiss the federal indictment on the grounds of prosecutorial misconduct, accusing the government of violating the doctor-patient privilege when it obtained Brown's psychiatric records.
The U.S. attorney's office hasn't responded to those accusations.
Andrew Wolfson: 502-582-7189; awolfson@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @adwolfson.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: New evidence in Quintez Brown, Craig Greenberg attempted shooting case
