Key Takeaways
- Antonio Brown accepted a plea deal that will reduce his attempted murder charge and give him probation instead of a potential 20-to-30-year prison sentence.
- Brown maintained that he acted in self-defense during the May 2025 shooting, while his attorney said he took the deal because prosecutors made him “an offer he couldn’t refuse.”
- Prosecutors offered the agreement after alleged victim Zul-Qarnain Kwame Nantambu forgave Brown and declined to participate, with a court hearing expected to finalize the deal.
Antonio Brown was facing the possibility of spending the next 30 years in prison. Now, the former NFL star is expected to walk away from his attempted murder case with probation.
According to Fox News, Brown accepted a plea deal on Wednesday, September 23, from Miami-Dade County prosecutors that will dramatically reduce the charge against him and eliminate the prison sentence he could have faced if convicted, his attorney Mark Eiglarsh said.
The deal marks a stunning change in stakes for Brown, who had been charged with second-degree attempted murder following a May 2025 shooting outside a celebrity boxing event in Miami.
"He is not accepting this agreement because he suddenly agrees with the State's allegations," Eiglarsh said. "He is accepting it because the State made him an offer he couldn't refuse."
And the difference is substantial. Because prosecutors alleged Brown fired a gun during the incident, Florida's firearm sentencing laws exposed him to a mandatory minimum of 20 years and as many as 30 years behind bars.
Under the agreement, Eiglarsh says Brown will instead receive probation. A hearing later this month is expected to make the deal official.
The case centered on Brown's May 16 confrontation with Zul-Qarnain Kwame Nantambu outside a boxing event in Miami's Little Haiti neighborhood. Prosecutors alleged Brown fought with Nantambu, obtained a firearm from a security guard, and chased Nantambu before firing twice. Nantambu told investigators that one of the bullets grazed his neck.
Brown's attorneys told a much different story.
After pleading not guilty, Brown maintained that he acted in self-defense and sought to have the case dismissed under Florida's Stand Your Ground law. His defense argued that Brown believed Nantambu posed a serious threat to him and described the shots as warnings that Brown intentionally fired away from Nantambu.
The prosecution's case changed significantly this month when Nantambu's attorney revealed that his client had forgiven Brown and no longer wanted to participate. Prosecutors were not required to drop the case and could have attempted to move forward using video, witnesses and other evidence. Instead, they offered Brown the plea agreement.
For Eiglarsh, accepting it came down to weighing the certainty of probation against continuing a legal battle carrying enormous consequences.
"There is a profound difference between believing you can win a case and deciding that you and your family cannot afford to spend another year, or potentially several years, wearing an ankle monitor and fighting it," he said.
Brown had already spent months dealing with those restrictions. After leaving the United States following the shooting, he remained in Dubai until U.S. Marshals arrested him there in November 2025. He was extradited to Florida, pleaded not guilty and was released on $25,000 bond with GPS monitoring and house arrest.
A judge subsequently granted him limited permission to travel within Florida for work.
The case also unfolded while Brown dealt with separate financial problems stemming from his 2024 bankruptcy. His former 13,000-square-foot Florida mansion recently went on the market for nearly $4 million after being surrendered to help satisfy his creditors.
Once the plea agreement is formally accepted by the court, Brown's attempted murder case—and the possibility of a decades-long prison sentence—will effectively be off the table.
