Sentencing delayed for Springfield man convicted in killing of McHenry County sheriff’s deputy

At defense attorneys’ request, Tuesday’s scheduled sentencing of the Springfield man convicted in April in the fatal shooting of McHenry County Sheriff’s Deputy Jacob Keltner was delayed until Aug. 29.

Floyd E. Brown, 43, was found guilty by a federal jury in Rockford of second-degree murder for killing Keltner who was working with the U.S. Marshals Service task force serving Floyd an arrest warrant the morning of March 7, 2019.

Brown also was found guilty of attempted murder of three other U.S. marshals — Michael Schulte, Michael Flannery and Dan Kramer -— whom he shot at while they were outside his room in a Rockford hotel.

The jury found Brown not guilty of first-degree murder in Keltner’s shooting, rejecting arguments by prosecutors that Brown was a man who hated police and planned to shoot at U.S. marshals when they came to a Rockford hotel to arrest him.

Citing the “complexity” of the case, Brown’s attorneys, John M. Beal and Patrick E. Boyle, said in their motion requesting a new date that the pre-sentence report was 529 pages long.

“This is multiple times the length of any pre-sentence report that (the defense attorneys have) ever received (in) 30 years of practicing before this court,” they said in their motion.

Attorneys said, based on the seriousness of the charges and potential sentence Brown is facing, they deserve more time to “effectively prepare ... in a case of this gravity.”

Brown had been staying at the Extended Stay America in Rockford with his girlfriend since mid-December, hiding out from Bloomington police. He had evaded arrest for burglary months earlier, prosecutors said during the trial in United States District Court of Northern Illinois in Rockford.

After shooting at the three marshals outside his room, Brown jumped out the window where he encountered Keltner, who was outside keeping watch on the window of Brown’s third-floor hotel room, prosecutors said.

The recording of the 911 call that Keltner made after the marshals called out “shots fired” and just before being struck by Brown’s bullet was played during closing arguments.

Jurors heard the 911 operator asking, “What’s your emergency?” Keltner never responded.

Keltner leaves behind a wife and two young sons.