HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Capital murder charges against LaJeromeny Brown were filed in Madison County Tuesday.
The formal charges come on the same day as the funeral for Huntsville Police Department officer Billy Clardy III, who Brown is accused of killing during a drug bust Dec. 6.
Clardy, an agent with the Huntsville Police Department’s joint anti-drug STAC Unit, was shot on Levert Street after a brief encounter with Brown. The defendant had been targeted as part of a suspected large drug deal.
Court records show Brown, 41, of Chattanooga, is charged with one count of capital murder, killing a police officer who was in the line of duty. Capital murder carries one of two sentences in Alabama upon conviction, either the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
WHNT News 19’s review of Brown’s background shows more than two decades of criminal charges, ranging from drug trafficking to assaulting a police officer to imitating a police officer in Chattanooga, allegedly to rob drug dealers. Despite multiple brushes with the law Brown managed to evade lengthy jail time, apart from a 41-month sentence in federal prison dating back to 2015.
The new court record shows the capital murder case has been assigned to Madison County Circuit Judge Chris Comer.
Court records also show Huntsville attorneys Bruce Gardner and Eric Wood have been assigned to represent Brown.
While mourners gathered for Clardy’s funeral, Brown is in the Madison County Jail. He faces the prospect of a lengthy incarceration before a trial. Madison County District Attorney Rob Broussard said the case would follow the normal course. That would include a preliminary hearing in about a month. If the judge decides there is probable cause to move the case forward it would eventually be presented to a grand jury.
If Brown is indicted, he would then face a trial. Broussard said the case of Benito Albarran, who was charged with killing Huntsville Police Department officer Daniel Golden in 2005, took about three years to come to trial. Albarran was convicted and received the death penalty. He died by suicide in 2015.
Clardy is survived by his wife, five children and grandchildren.
Updated at 4:05 p.m. to include Brown’s attorneys being named
