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Date: 03-22-2023
Case Style:
United States of America v. Jordan Brown
Case Number: 4:21-cr-00161
Judge: R. Stan Baker
Court: United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia (Chatham County)
Plaintiff's Attorney: United States Attorney’s Office in Savannah
Defendant's Attorney:
Description: Savannah, Georgia criminal defense lawyer represented Defendant charged with plotting to stab a fellow soldier to death in his Fort Stewart barracks.
Jordan Brown, 23, of St. Marys, Ga., was pled guilty to Assault Upon a U.S. Service member Involving Bodily Injury or a Deadly Weapon, and Retaliation Against a Witness Involving Bodily Injury.
Brown’s co-defendant, Byron Booker, 29, of Ludowici, Ga., was sentenced on Feb. 2 to life in prison after previously pleading guilty to Premeditated Murder of a Member of the United States Uniformed Services.
“Both of these defendants are responsible for the brutal murder of a U.S. Army soldier who honorably performed his duties as a service member,” said U.S. Attorney Steinberg. “The final sentence in this case hopefully provides justice for Specialist Austin Hawk, and holds his killers accountable.”
As described in court testimony and in the plea agreements for the defendants, Brown, a former U.S. Army Private First Class, admitted that he and Booker, a former U.S. Army sergeant, discussed “silencing” Specialist Austin J. Hawk, 21, at Fort Stewart Military Reservation in retaliation for Hawk reporting Brown to U.S. Army leadership for marijuana use. After gaining entry to Hawk’s barracks room shortly after midnight on June 17, 2020, Booker “slashed and stabbed Hawk repeatedly with a sharp-edged weapon.” A medical examiner noted that Hawk received 40 separate stab or slash wounds, many of them that individually would have been fatal, and cut his own hand during the assault.
Hawk’s body was found in his Fort Stewart barracks room the next day. Brown was in his own barracks room on the floor below Hawk’s room during the assault.
“This sentence holds Brown accountable for his actions and brings closure to the victim’s family,” said Rusty Higgason, Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge of the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division’s Southeast Field Office. “This complex investigation is a great example of the close teamwork among Army CID, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory, FBI, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Georgia.”
“Brown’s sentence is a direct result of the hard work and persistence put in by the FBI Savannah Resident Agency and our partners at the U.S. Army and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia,” said Keri Farley, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “Hawk’s family and friends will never be rid of the pain this senseless murder has caused them, but hopefully it gives them some sense of resolve to know that justice will be served.”
U.S. Attorney Steinberg commended the work of CID Forensic Science Technicians from Fort Stewart, Fort Bragg, Fort Gordon, and Fort Jackson, and from the analysts with the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory and the FBI Crime Lab.
The Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division and the FBI investigated the case, which was prosecuted for the United States by Southern District of Georgia Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jennifer G. Solari and Darron J. Hubbard.
18 U.S.C. § 111 Assault Upon a Member of the United States Uniformed Services
(2)
18 U.S.C. § 1513(b)(1) Retaliation Against a Witness: Bodily Injury
(4)
Outcome: Defendant was sentenced to 240 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
Plaintiff's Experts:
Defendant's Experts:
Comments: