FILE--This undated booking file photo released by Illinois Department of Corrections shows Floyd E. Brown. Brown has pleaded not guilty in a federal case accusing him of fatally shooting a sheriff's deputy who was trying to serve an arrest warrant at a hotel. Brown of Springfield appeared in Rockford federal court Wednesday, March 20, 2019 sitting in a wheelchair and wearing green jail scrubs. A grand jury Tuesday indicted him on murder and weapons charges.(Illinois Department of Corrections via AP,File)
ROCKFORD- An Illinois man pleaded not guilty Wednesday to federal charges accusing him of fatally shooting a sheriff's deputy who was part of a U.S. Marshal's fugitive task force trying to serve an arrest warrant at a hotel.
Floyd E. Brown, 39, of Springfield appeared in Rockford federal court sitting in a wheelchair and wearing green jail scrubs. He didn't speak except to tell a judge "yes" when asked if he understood the charges against him. A grand jury on Tuesday indicted Brown on first-degree murder and weapons charges.
Brown's public defender entered not guilty pleas on Brown's behalf and then withdrew as his attorney. U.S. Magistrate Judge Iain D. Johnston then appointed two other defense attorneys qualified to handle death penalty cases to represent Brown, who faces a potential death penalty.
Brown is accused of killing 35-year-old McHenry County Sheriff's Deputy Jacob Keltner on March 7 while the task force tried to serve Brown his arrest warrant at a Rockford hotel. Police say after Brown shot Keltner he fled south in a vehicle that eventually crashed along an interstate in central Illinois. An hours-long standoff ensued that ended with Brown's arrest.
The case is next scheduled to be in court May 14.
John R. Lausch Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, center, briefs reporters on the trial of Floyd Brown in the killing of Special Deputy United States Marshal Jacob Keltner on Wednesday, March 20, 2019, U.S. District Courthouse in Rockford. Brown pleaded not guilty Wednesday to federal charges accusing him of fatally shooting Keltner, who was trying to serve an arrest warrant at a hotel. (Scott P. Yates/Rockford Register Star via AP)
John R. Lausch Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, center, briefs reporters on the trial of Floyd Brown in the killing of Special Deputy United States Marshal Jacob Keltner on Wednesday, March 20, 2019, U.S. District Courthouse in Rockford. Brown pleaded not guilty Wednesday to federal charges accusing him of fatally shooting Keltner, who was trying to serve an arrest warrant at a hotel. (Scott P. Yates/Rockford Register Star via AP)
Crime scene investigative equipment is set up in parking lot of the Extended Stay America Hotel on Friday, March 8, 2019, in Rockford, Ill., after the fatal shooting of McHenry County Sheriff's Deputy Jacob Keltner at the hotel on Thursday. Floyd E. Brown is scheduled to appear in court Monday in Rockford, where prosecutors say he shot and killed the deputy working with a U.S. Marshal's Service fugitive task force serving Brown an arrest warrant. (Scott P. Yates/Rockford Register Star via AP)
Law enforcement departments from all over the area arrive before funeral services for slain McHenry County Sheriff's Deputy Jacob Keltner on Wednesday, March 13, 2019, at Woodstock North High School in Woodstock, Ill. Keltner was shot and killed while trying to serve an arrest warrant at a hotel on March 7, 2019. (Scott P. Yates/Rockford Register Star via AP)
John R. Lausch Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, center, briefs reporters on the trial of Floyd Brown in the killing of Special Deputy United States Marshal Jacob Keltner on Wednesday, March 20, 2019, U.S. District Courthouse in Rockford. Brown pleaded not guilty Wednesday to federal charges accusing him of fatally shooting Keltner, who was trying to serve an arrest warrant at a hotel. (Scott P. Yates/Rockford Register Star via AP)
John R. Lausch Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, center, briefs reporters on the trial of Floyd Brown in the killing of Special Deputy United States Marshal Jacob Keltner on Wednesday, March 20, 2019, U.S. District Courthouse in Rockford. Brown pleaded not guilty Wednesday to federal charges accusing him of fatally shooting Keltner, who was trying to serve an arrest warrant at a hotel. (Scott P. Yates/Rockford Register Star via AP)
John R. Lausch Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, center, briefs reporters on the trial of Floyd Brown in the killing of Special Deputy United States Marshal Jacob Keltner on Wednesday, March 20, 2019, U.S. District Courthouse in Rockford. Brown pleaded not guilty Wednesday to federal charges accusing him of fatally shooting Keltner, who was trying to serve an arrest warrant at a hotel. (Scott P. Yates/Rockford Register Star via AP)