By Daniel Kozin
and Philip Marcelo
Contributing Writers
MIAMI (AP) — Former NFL star Antonio Brown pleaded guilty Nov. 6 to aggravated assault with a firearm in connection to a 2025 shooting outside a celebrity boxing match in Miami.
Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez sentenced Brown to three years of probation, during which time he will have to attend weekly counseling sessions and not possess a firearm, among other conditions.
Wearing a black leather jacket and white pants, Brown spoke sparingly and in a low voice during the brief proceedings in Miami state court. As he entered his guilty plea, the judge asked him to speak up.
Outside the courtroom, Brown thanked God and said he wanted to “get back to life” and his family.
He declined to answer other questions, but his lawyer, Mark Eiglarsh, said they were “extremely grateful” the case was behind them.
“My client was facing 30 years in prison with a 20-year minimum mandatory, and he was given an offer he just couldn’t refuse,” he said. “Probation was too good to turn down, and we’re both very excited about the outcome.”
The plea to the reduced charge allows the former All-Pro wide receiver to avoid prison time and a criminal conviction.
Brown, a Super Bowl champion with the 2021 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, had initially been charged with attempted murder after police say he grabbed a handgun from a security staffer at the event and fired two shots at a man he had been in a fistfight with earlier.
Brown, 38, maintained he was defending himself from an attack as others were trying to steal jewelry from him.
Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law allows people who believe they face death or serious injury to use deadly force to defend themselves without a duty to retreat.
Prosecutor Howard Rosen said in court that his office was seeking to reduce the charge against Brown because there was “a question” of whether he was actually attempting to shoot the victim, who had been walking away from the altercation at the time.
Daniel Kozin and Philip Marcelo write for the Associated Press.
