HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — The man charged in the shooting death of Huntsville Police Department officer Billy Clardy III,  is 41-year-old LaJeromeny Brown. Brown, who is currently in the Madison County Jail on a capital murder charge, has a long record of criminal charges, primarily in Hamilton County, Tennessee — the Chattanooga area — dating back more than two decades. In 1997 he pleaded guilty to two counts of first degree attempted murder, records show.  Since then he has pleaded guilty to several charges including criminal impersonation, selling drugs, and driving under the influence. Federal court records show Brown also served 41 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute drugs. He was out in 2018, despite being on federal probation for much of year, and was involved in numerous brushes with the law. Records also show, each time, he managed to evade any major time in jail.

In February 2018, Brown was stopped at a border checkpoint near Laredo, Texas. During a secondary search, agents said they found a .40 caliber Sig Sauer pistol. He was indicted on a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. But his lawyers pushed back. In May 2018 they argued the search of Brown’s vehicle, which yielded the gun, was improper. A month later, federal prosecutors in Texas dropped the charges. In August 2018, officials said Brown went on a home invasion spree in Chattanooga, posing as a police officer to allegedly rob drug dealers. When police searched his residence they found property that belonged to the victims, along with a ski mask, multiple firearms, and a little more than a pound of marijuana in a deep freezer. In October 2018, police tried to arrest Brown, but he led them on a chase and hit a police cruiser with his car.  He was charged with forcing police into a high-speed chase, attempting to crash into a police car and striking an officer. In December 2018, records show the District Attorney’s office tried to revoke his $97,000 dollar bond because of the pending state charges. A move that would have him sent back to federal prison. But a few days later, prosecutors told the court a witness to the home invasion wouldn’t testify, so there was no probable cause to revoke Brown. In January, over state prosecutors’ objections, he was released on nearly $100,000 bond. The district attorney filed a motion to revoke and increase his bond in August, citing new charges.

In December 2019 he was arrested in the shooting death of Huntsville Police Officer Clardy, who was on the scene for an expected large drug arrest. U.S. Attorney for Alabama’s Northern District, Jay Town released a statement Monday saying judges and prosecutors should consider a defendant’s full record saying, “It is inexplicable to me that Brown was able to breathe fresh air and not being held behind bars. He was clearly the worst among us and he proved that Friday night.” WHNT News 19 reached out to the Chattanooga Police Department, the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, and the Hamilton County DA’s office. All of them are familiar with Brown but none of them would comment on his criminal history.