He also pleaded guilty to felonious assault in the shooting of Walmart employee Eric Ruff, who was 57 at the time of the shooting. Ruff survived.
Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser said Brown will receive a life sentence. The guilty plea to murder was also with a gun specification, which increases the minimum sentence to 18 years. The felonious assault charge carries a sentence from two to eight years.
Butler County Common Pleas Judge Dan Haughey is scheduled to sentence Brown on Dec. 15.
Earlier this month, Haughey granted the 35-year-old Hamilton man a pro se motion to represent himself at trial. After several urgings to reconsider his motion, Haughey granted the motion.
Brown wanted to fire his public defender, his fifth in three years, calling Kirk McVay “ineffective.” McVay was brought back to help negotiate the plea agreement, which Assistant Prosecutor Brad Burress said those discussions happened late last week.
Burress said the prosecutor’s office was notified of his desire to resolve Thursday morning.
The other charges — aggravated murder, aggravated robbery and having weapons under disability — were dismissed, according to court records.
Prosecutors were preparing for a two-week jury trial to start Monday with jury selection. Haughey planned to call in 150 potential jurors for what would have been the fifth jury trial scheduled for Brown since 2023.
The shooting was captured on Walmart store cameras. Prosecutors said he used a Ruger 5.7x28mm.
With the murder case being resolved for all but the sentencing, Gmoser said focus will now turn back to the aggravated robbery case being heard in Common Pleas Jennifer McElfresh’s courtroom. Court records show he’s scheduled to appear in court Monday morning.
In that case, Brown is accused of robbing a Minnick’s Drive Thru employee at gunpoint Oct. 23, 2021. He allegedly took cash and lottery tickets. He was out of jail on a $200,000 bond when now admitting to attempting to steal cellphones from Walmart and shot two people.
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