Brandon Browner, who has Super Bowl championship rings from the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots, was charged Tuesday by the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office with four felonies, including attempted murder. Browner played with the Seahawks from 2011 to 2013, for the Pats in 2014 and finished his career in 2015 with the Saints.
Charging documents say officers responded to a home in La Verne, Calif., Sunday morning after a caller reported a man was attempting to break through a locked window.
Browner, 33, allegedly assaulted the woman — an ex-girlfriend identified by the Los Angeles Times as Marin Foster, who had a restraining order against Browner after a prior domestic violence incident — and threatened to kill her. The Times said he chased and dragged her, then attempted to smother her in a carpet.
Browner, who has two children with Foster, fled the scene with her Rolex watch valued at about $20,000. He was arrested by police hours later.
Reports say he’s being held on a $10 million bond. If convicted on all charges, Browner could face a lifetime sentence in prison.
Along with the attempted murder charge, Browner faces felony robbery, burglary and false imprisonment charges and two misdemeanor counts of child endangerment. He was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday.
In an earlier episode, Browner had been arrested May 6 by the LA sheriff’s department on charges of battery against Foster and child endangerment. He pleaded no contest and was sentenced to probation. Later, when court records were discovered that included a previous conviction, his sentence was changed to 60 days in jail.
But he served only two because of jail overcrowding. A TMZ report quoted a sheriff’s spokesman as saying, “Anyone sentenced to 180 days or less for a non-serious offense is immediately released due to continuing overcrowding.”
Separately, La Verne police arrested Browner on May 25, 2017 on a charge of possession cocaine.
In September, Foster asked the court for a temporary restraining order against Browner. In her application, the LA Times said she wrote: “Physically, he has given me several black eyes. He has assaulted me and given me a broken tailbone, busted my eardrum . . . I don’t feel safe leaving my children with him.”
Her application was granted.
Browner, from Sylmar, Calif., was a 6-foot-4, 220-pound cornerback opposite Richard Sherman in the Legion of Boom, the secondary that was a key element in the Seahawks’ top-ranked defense that made consecutive appearances in the Super Bowl.
Browner starred at Oregon State and was an undrafted free agent in 2005, when he signed with the Denver Broncos. But he saw no game action for two seasons, then played four seasons in the Canadian Football League. He signed with the Seahawks in coach Pete Carroll’s second season, when he started all 16 regular season games and had six interceptions, returning two for touchdowns. He was named to the Pro Bowl that season.
Browner was found in violation of the NFL’s drug policy and missed games each season from 2012-14 due to suspensions. He was under suspension and did not play in the Super Bowl victory.
The Seahawks brought back Browner for a training camp trial in 2016, but cut him before the season began.
He is facing arraignment July 30.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="2240707 https://sportspressnw.wpengine.com/?p=2240707">8 Comments
Ugh. . this gives me that Creepy Aaron Hernandez feeling. . something like what a patriots fan must of felt. . . yuck. . .come on Brandon Browner. . and throw on top of it people throwing out C.T.E as a possible excuse for such behavior. . just reeks.
It’s a grim accounting of a life gone haywire. The CTE diagnosis is now the causation du jour for aberrant behavior. Can’t wait until it filters over to concussed soccer players.
CTE isn’t an excuse as much as a reason. Its literally brain damage.
So is there no way then for a person suffering with this brain damage to identify that something as is wrong and get help before assault and mayhem happen?. .
Every case is different. There are many factors, including how severe the CTE is.
The truth is we just don’t know enough about CTE. It was just discovered not long ago.
So if the Hawks fronted the $10 million bond, would any of it count against the cap? Since it doesn’t go to Browner himself, you could argue it’s not really salary.
A sorry story for an exceptional player to waste his life when he had all to gain.