Antonio Brown Pleads Guilty in Miami Shooting Case, Gets Three Years’ Probation

Antonio Brown pleaded guilty Friday in Miami state court to aggravated assault with a firearm, closing a case that began with an attempted murder charge after a shooting outside a celebrity boxing match in May 2025. Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez sentenced Brown, 38, to three years of probation, with conditions that include weekly counseling sessions and a ban on possessing a firearm, the Associated Press reported.

The terms matter as much as the plea itself. The judge withheld adjudication, which means no criminal conviction is entered on Brown’s record. If Brown meets every condition, he can ask the court to end his probation early — in roughly 18 months, NBC Sports reported via ESPN.

Thirty years on the table

Brown was first charged with second-degree attempted murder with a firearm. That charge carried up to 30 years in prison, including a 20-year mandatory minimum, Sky Sports reported. The plea took all of it off the table in a brief hearing: wearing a black leather jacket and white pants, Brown spoke sparingly and in a low voice, and as he entered his guilty plea, the judge asked him to speak up, according to the AP.

“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,” his lawyer, Mark Eiglarsh, said. “Probation was too good to turn down, and we’re both very excited about the outcome.”

Why prosecutors cut the deal

Prosecutor Howard Rosen told the court his office moved to reduce the charge because there was “a question” of whether Brown was actually attempting to shoot the victim, who was walking away from the altercation at the time. The victim, Zul-Qarnain Kwame Nantambu, was grazed in the neck in the shooting. He was in court for Friday’s hearing, has said publicly that he would not cooperate with police and did not want to press charges, and has said he has forgiven Brown, the AP reported.

“Rather than the entire case going away and there being no opportunity for Mr. Brown to receive what’s ultimately going to be some therapeutic treatment, we all came together — the defense and the state — and decided that this was in the best interest of everybody,” Rosen said. Nantambu’s lawyer, Richard Cooper, said in a statement: “We have maintained that we wish Mr. Brown healing and a path closer to God.”

A trial would have turned on Florida’s “stand your ground” law, NBC Sports noted. Brown maintained he was defending himself from an attack as others tried to steal jewelry from him.

The night in Little Haiti

The charges grew out of a May 2025 celebrity boxing match in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood. After a fistfight, police say Brown grabbed a handgun from a security staffer at the event and fired two shots at the man he had been fighting with. An arrest warrant on the attempted murder charge was issued in June 2025, and Brown — who has business interests in Dubai — was extradited from there in November 2025 to face the case.

The career behind the case

Brown played 12 seasons in the NFL, most of them with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and was named a first-team All-Pro four times. He won a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2021, catching passes from Tom Brady. The following season, his career effectively ended when he took off his jersey, shoulder pads and gloves and ran off the field during a game; the Buccaneers released him. The AP noted Brown has faced other legal problems in recent years, including accusations of battery, domestic violence charges and a child-support case.

Outside the courtroom Friday, Brown thanked God and said he wanted to “get back to life” and to his family, the AP reported. He declined to answer other questions. The case that could have sent him to prison for decades is now a set of conditions: three years of probation, counseling every week, no firearms — and a record that stays clean only if he holds up his end of the deal.