Defendant Reluctantly Accepts Plea Deal

A Fairbury man accused of assault has reached a plea agreement, although he made his reluctance to accept the deal known to the court.Kenneth D. Brown, age 48, of Fairbury, appeared in Jefferson County Court on Wednesday, February 14, 2024. Linda Bauer was the presiding judge.Brown was originally charged with third degree domestic assault and obstructing a peace officer, both class 1 misdemeanors punishable by up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine.On July 16, 2023, at approximately 3:15 p.m., the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to a residence in Fairbury, responding to a call about a “physical fight.”According to the Warrantless Arrest Affidavit, “Deputies attempted to contact Kenneth in the garage for several minutes without him answering, verbal warnings were actually given that if he did not open the door pursuant to the investigation that we would break it in. In order to contact Kenneth, the door was kicked in.”The affidavit also notes that the defendant was interviewed, “While still on scene with Kenneth he made statements to me about ‘hiring professionals to get the job done’ and then moments later told me that we were going to be ‘picking up a corpse in a couple hours.’”Brown was arrested at the scene.In accordance with the plea agreement, the assault charge would be dismissed if Brown pleaded guilty to obstruction. When asked how he pleaded, Brown said, after a long pause, “Guilty, I guess,” but also indicated he did not agree with the charge.His attorney, Dillon J. O'Doherty, asked for an adjournment so that he could further discuss the plea with his client in private.Brown and his attorney returned to the courtroom after approximately 20 minutes and Brown indicated his agreement to go forward with the plea agreement. He pleaded guilty.Judge Bauer ordered a PSI (Pre-Sentencing Investigation) and set sentencing for April 3, 2024.

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