‘Taking a Chance on You’: Judge Had Admitted Risk of Letting Boston Parkway Shooter Off with Light Sentence
The judge who sentenced Tyler Brown to just five-to-six years in prison for shooting at two police officers conceded that she was “taking a chance” that the defendant would not reoffend. Now, six years later, Brown stands accused of opening fire on motorists who happened to be driving past him on a Boston parkway last week.
Read more Mamdani Announces First City-Owned Grocery Store Will Open Next Year
Suffolk Superior Court Judge Janet Sanders can be heard in courtroom audio explaining to Brown that she was defying the recommendations of experienced police officers and probation officers in sentencing him to less than half the time requested by prosecutors after he was convicted of opening fire on two police officers in May 2020.
“You know Mr. Brown, I do realize I’m kind of taking a chance on you and you know when people stand up, experienced police officers, experienced probation officers and they tell me this guy is a danger to the community then, um, then I hear that, and I can’t look into a crystal ball and figure out what’s going to happen once you get out but I do understand I am taking a risk here and I just pray that, you know, my intuitions are right, and that you have the ability, the smarts, the will, the support, not to go out there and endanger other peoples’ lives as you have in the past,” Sanders said to Brown, according to courtroom audio obtained by NBC Boston.
Brown pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including armed assault with intent to murder, after firing on two police officers who were responding to a 911 call. One officer returned fire, but no one was hit.
Last week Brown allegedly fired 50 to 60 rounds at passing cars on Memorial Drive in Cambridge. Two people were hit and left in critical condition following the shooting.
Brown was arraigned from his hospital bed Thursday via zoom, pleading not guilty to multiple charges, including two counts of assault to murder, two counts of attempted assault, and battery with a firearm, as well as gun and ammunition charges.
Following the 2020 shooting, police and probation offers urged Sanders to give Brown a sentence of ten to 12 years, but she cut it in half, saying the longer sentence would mean it’s “over for him.”
“I’m a firm believer if Mr. Tyler brown gets out he will hurt or worse kill someone because he has shown us how well he has done while he was out on probation for a stabbing. Probation apparently means nothing to Tyler Brown nor does the value of life,” one police officer told the judge.
The officer continued, calling it “a slap in the face to the taxpayers of the commonwealth of Massachusetts.”
Read more Colbert Receives a Hero’s Sendoff
The probation officer echoed the cop’s concerns, calling Brown “a danger to the community,” referencing his “8-page Massachusetts record.”
Upon reading about the abuse and neglect Brown experienced as a child, as well as the letters of support he received, promising to help in the rehabilitation process, Sanders ultimately decided to sentence Brown to five to six years and probation.
At the time of the May 2020 shooting, Brown was on probation following a 2014 conviction for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and witness intimidation.
According to the probation officer at the time, because Brown maintained criminal records in multiple states, he was not a candidate for probation.
Stacey Borden, the founder and director of New Beginnings/Reentry Services, wrote one of the support letters on behalf of Brown during his 2021 trial. She told Boston 25 News she hopes the judge offers Brown the same grace in this case as well.
Retired Judge Jack Lu, and former chair of the Massachusetts Sentencing Commission, also defended Sanders’s sentence, calling it a “proper functioning of the justice system.”
“The judge doesn’t have a crystal ball. The judge doesn’t have extra sensory perception. The judge does not have ESP,” Lu told WBZ-TV. “The judge has to do what’s fair to everybody.”
A reporter from Boston 25 News went to speak with Sanders at her home, almost six years to the day from Brown’s police shootout in 2020.
Read more Colbert Receives a Hero’s Sendoff
“I’m not going to comment. I have no memory of this case,” Sanders said.
