Jeremy Brown, a former Special Forces soldier, was convicted of illegally possessing an unregistered assault rifle, grenades, and classified materials found during an FBI search linked to the January 6 Capitol attack. He was sentenced to over seven years in prison. Recently, federal prosecutors contended that Brown’s case falls under a clemency proclamation from President Trump, potentially allowing him to be freed since his Jan. 6 charges were pardoned. This viewpoint echoes broader Justice Department trends, as they evaluate connections between separate criminal cases and the Capitol events, although some cases, like that of Edward Kelley, are deemed unrelated.
Four years prior, F.B.I. agents executed a search warrant at the Florida residence of Jeremy Brown, a former Special Forces operative, as part of their investigation into his involvement in the January 6, 2021 Capitol assault. During the search, agents uncovered multiple illegal items: an unregistered assault rifle, two live fragmentation grenades, and a classified “trip report” authored by Mr. Brown during his military service.
Ultimately, Mr. Brown faced trial in Tampa on charges of illegally possessing these weapons and classified information. Following his conviction, he received a sentence of over seven years in prison, even before his Jan. 6 indictment was presented to a jury.
However, on Tuesday, federal prosecutors unexpectedly announced that the second case was related to January 6 and therefore fell under the expansive clemency proclamation issued by President Trump on his first day in office, which encompassed almost 1,600 individuals charged in connection with the Capitol incident.
If a judge concurs with this interpretation, Mr. Brown — whose charges related to January 6 had already been dismissed by the presidential pardon — may potentially be released from his other legal issues as well.
The Justice Department’s stance regarding Mr. Brown marks not the first instance of recent days where they have indicated that separate criminal investigations stemming from January 6 — particularly those involving weapon discoveries during searches — should be encompassed by Mr. Trump’s broad pardons.
On Tuesday, Ed Martin, the acting U.S. attorney in Washington, expressed a similar viewpoint concerning another pardoned January 6 defendant, Daniel Edwin Wilson.
Mr. Wilson, associated with a Kentucky militia, entered a guilty plea last spring for charges related to obstructing or injuring officers at the Capitol. Alongside this plea, he acknowledged possession of illegal firearms and a significant amount of ammunition discovered during a search of his residence while under investigation for January 6.
Just a fortnight ago, Mr. Martin dismissed the idea that the weapons charges were covered by Mr. Trump’s pardon. Yet he unexpectedly shifted his position this week, noting in a legal document that he had “received further clarity on the intent of the presidential pardon.”
“Under these circumstances,” asserted Mr. Martin, “the presidential pardon encompasses a pardon for the firearm convictions to which the defendant pleaded guilty.”
According to Mr. Trump’s clemency proclamation, anyone charged with or convicted of “offenses related to events that transpired at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,” should either receive a pardon or have their case dismissed. The Justice Department has increasingly maintained that criminal activities uncovered during investigations related to an individual’s involvement in the Capitol assault are indeed connected to January 6.
Last week, for instance, the same U.S. attorney who managed Mr. Brown’s case sought to dismiss firearm charges against another pardoned January 6 defendant, Daniel Charles Ball. Merely three days after Mr. Trump granted him clemency, Mr. Ball was rearrested based on an indictment accusing him of illegal firearm possession, which was seized during a search of his home while under investigation for his January 6 involvement.
In a related matter, federal prosecutors in Maryland requested a judge last Wednesday to release Elias Costianes from prison. He is a drug dealer who pleaded guilty in 2023 to illegally possessing a firearm, even as he awaited trial on charges linked to January 6.
Mr. Costianes had just started serving a two-year sentence concerning the weapons offense, but prosecutors have now moved to secure his release.
“After discussions with the leadership of the Department of Justice, the United States has concluded that the president granted Mr. Costianes a pardon for the offenses in the indictment,” a federal prosecutor stated in court documents submitted to an appeals court requested by Mr. Costianes to secure his release. “He should be released from custody immediately.”
While the Justice Department has defined certain boundaries, asserting that not every crime committed by pardoned January 6 defendants falls under Mr. Trump’s clemency decree, they are unwilling to extend the pardon to a second case against Edward Kelley, a Tennessee rioter who was convicted in November for plotting to assassinate the F.B.I. agents and police officers involved in his January 6-related case.
Prosecutors noted in a court filing last week that Mr. Kelley’s murder plot conviction was distinctly unrelated to the Capitol attack.
“This case concerns the defendant’s entirely independent criminal conduct in Tennessee in late 2022, which occurred over 500 miles away from the Capitol,” they stated.
Mr. Martin’s office in Washington is also maintaining — at least for now — their intention to prosecute a pardoned rioter named Taylor Taranto. In June 2023, Mr. Taranto was arrested near the residence of former President Barack Obama, where law enforcement discovered a cache of weapons, ammunition, and explosive-making materials in his vehicle.
Last month, in accordance with Mr. Trump’s pardon proclamation, Mr. Martin dropped all of the charges against Mr. Taranto related to January 6. However, he opted not to dismiss the weapon-related charges arising from incidents two years earlier, even though all charges were included in the same indictment.
“Taranto’s actions in June 2023 in Washington, D.C., were not offenses occurring at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021,” Mr. Martin observed.