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Date: 03-08-2024
Case Style:
Case Number: 4:17-cr-00567
Judge: Sim Lake
Court: The United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas (Harris County)
Plaintiff's Attorney: The United States Attorney’s Office in Houston
Defendant's Attorney: Kenneth W. McGuire - 713-2234-1558
Description:
Local drug trafficker gets life in prison for his role in murder-for-hire plot
A 50-year-old man has been sentenced for perpetrating multiple violent crimes related to a drug trafficking conspiracy, announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.
A federal jury deliberated for six hours before returning the guilty verdicts Oct. 31, 2023, on all counts against Ronald Brown aka Nuk, Nook or Nookie following a six-day trial. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder for hire, intentional killing related to drug trafficking, two counts of using a firearm in the commission of a murder, kidnapping and using a firearm in relation to the kidnapping as well as conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute cocaine.
U.S. District Judge Sim Lake has now ordered Brown to serve life in federal prison. At the trial, the court heard argument regarding Brown’s repeated attempts to intimidate, influence and kill witnesses in his trial. In handing down the life sentence, the court recommended that Brown be confined in a communications management unit to ensure heightened monitoring of Brown’s external and internal communications.
In December 2013, law enforcement seized 21 kilograms of cocaine from one of Brown’s associates who had placed the bag in a vehicle at a Valero gas station. Brown was upset by the loss and sidelined him from the drug operation at that time.
During trial, the jury heard from several witnesses who testified about working directly for Brown. He was responsible for moving as much as 100 to 200 kilograms of cocaine each week from Houston to Atlanta, Georgia, on 18-wheeler trucks and car haulers. Once in Atlanta, his associates would divide the shipments before delivering it to Brown’s customers.
The jury also heard testimony from one of Brown’s drivers who was robbed of approximately 56 kilograms of cocaine April 18, 2014. Brown suspected the same individual who lost the drugs at the Valero and another drug associate conspired to steal the cocaine from him.
On April 23, 2014, Brown and others kidnapped the associate, zip-tied his arms and legs and put him in the trunk of Brown’s girlfriend’s vehicle. A good Samaritan picked up the victim and attempted to drive him to safety after the victim managed to free himself from the trunk. However, Brown pursued and shot at them repeatedly, ultimately striking the good Samaritan in the upper body and the associate in the head. Both survived.
One of the kidnappers told the jury he met Brown following the kidnapping who directed him to dump the vehicle and gun used during the shooting. Brown also directed his girlfriend to report the vehicle as stolen.
Following the failed attempt to kill this person, Brown began searching for the other man from the Valero incident whom he also thought was part of the alleged theft on April 18, 2023, in order reclaim his drugs. He ultimately decided he wanted to kill him. Testimony revealed Brown was able to obtain the date of the man’s next parole visit. Through a middleman, Brown then hired a shooter and provided him with a handgun.
Following that parole visit on July 1, 2014, the victim returned to his vehicle in the parking lot. The shooter then fired multiple shots at close range at the victim as he sat in the driver’s seat. He died at the scene.
Afterwards, Brown met the shooter and middleman in the parking lot of a grocery store and paid them $20,000.
At the trial, the defense attempted to convince the jury that other members of Brown’s drug trafficking organization orchestrated the kidnapping and murder. They did not believe those claims and found Brown guilty as charged.
He will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.
The FBI conducted the investigation with assistance from the Houston Police Department’s Homicide Division, Texas Department of Criminal Justice – Parole Division, U.S. Marshals Service, Federal Bureau of Prisons and Drug Enforcement Administration.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sebastian A. Edwards and Britni Cooper prosecuted the case.
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Defendant's Experts:
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