Miami, Florida: Antonio Brown Pleads Guilty to Reduced Charge in Miami Shooting Case, Gets Three Years of Probation

Former NFL star Antonio Brown pleaded guilty on Friday in Miami to aggravated assault with a firearm, a reduced charge that closed the case over a 2025 shooting outside a celebrity boxing match in Miami.

Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez sentenced Brown, 38, to three years of probation in state court at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building. During probation he must attend weekly counseling sessions and cannot possess a firearm, among other conditions. The plea lets him avoid prison and avoid a criminal conviction on his record.

Thirty years was on the table

Brown was first charged with attempted second degree murder. His lawyer, Mark Eiglarsh, said Brown faced up to 30 years in prison, including a 20 year minimum mandatory sentence, if he had been convicted on the original charge.

"We are extremely grateful that this is finally behind us," Eiglarsh said outside the courtroom. "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. Probation was too good to turn down, and we're both very excited about the outcome."

Brown, wearing a black leather jacket and white pants, spoke sparingly and in a low voice during the brief hearing, and the judge asked him to speak up as he entered his plea. Outside the courtroom he thanked God and said he wanted to get back to life and his family.

What happened in May 2025

Police say that after a fistfight at the May 16, 2025 boxing event, Brown grabbed a handgun from a security staffer and fired two shots at the man he had fought with. One bullet grazed the neck of the man, Zul-Qarnain Kwame Nantambu, according to ESPN reporting on the hearing.

Prosecutor Howard Rosen told the court the state sought the reduced charge because there was a question about whether Brown was actually attempting to shoot the victim, who was walking away at the time, ESPN reported. Steelers Now reported that the victim did not want to cooperate with the state attorney's office and prosecutors could not prove the shooting was intentional.

Brown has maintained he acted in self defense, saying others attacked him and tried to steal his jewelry. His lawyer pursued dismissal under Florida's Stand Your Ground law, which allows people who believe they face death or serious injury to use deadly force without a duty to retreat.

An arrest warrant on the attempted murder charge was issued in June 2025. Brown was extradited in November 2025 from Dubai, where he has business interests, to face the charge in Miami.

A career that ended on the field

Brown played 12 years in the NFL, nine of them with the Pittsburgh Steelers from 2010 to 2018, and won a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2021 under quarterback Tom Brady. The following season he took off his jersey, shoulder pads and gloves and ran off the field during a game, and the Buccaneers released him. The plea closes the last major criminal case from his years of legal trouble since then.