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Now-suspended Jacksonville City Councilwoman wants case severed, some charges dismissed

Jacksonville, FL — Just two days after suspended Jacksonville City Councilman Reggie Brown files to sever the federal fraud case he faces from that of his co-defendant Katrina Brown, Katrina Brown is answering in kind.

Katrina Brown- who is also a suspended City Councilman- has filed several motions in the case, including ones seeking to separate from Reggie Brown, to sever the charges she faces in to two separate cases, and more.

The two are named in a joint 38-count indictment dealing with money laundering, various fraud charges, and more. Prosecutors say they conspired to submit fake invoices, in order to receive payments from a federally-backed loan for Katrina Brown's family BBQ sauce business. Katrina Brown is also charged individually with trying to get bank loans by using fake financial information, and Reggie Brown is individually charged with not filing a tax return.

Reggie Brown previously filed a motion to sever their cases, saying he believes the evidence presented by prosecutors will largely be against Katrina Brown, and he will be negatively affected by that spilling over. He says, if- as prosecutors allege- Katrina Brown intentionally deceived financial institutions, he did not knowingly and willingly enter in to any fraudulent activity.

Katrina Brown has now filed her own motion to sever.

“Katrina Brown and Reggie Brown’s defenses are irreconcilable,” the motion says.

Her defense says it has become clear Reggie Brown will shift blame on to his co-defendant. If the jury finds Reggie Brown guilty, the motion argues it will “preforce” them to conclude Katrina Brown is guilty as well, without independently considering the evidence against her. The motion further argues that if the jury finds Reggie Brown not guilty, it would then be inclined to believe his account, and therefore, her guilt.

Notwithstanding severing the cases from each other, Katrina Brown is also seeking to sever some of the charges she faces from the overall indictment.

In addition to the conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering charges that make up the first 33 counts of the joint indictment, Brown is charged individually with two counts of attempted bank fraud and two counts of false statements to a federally insured institution. The defense argues these charges are a different type of offense, from a different time period, that don’t have anything in common with the other charges. Joining these to the other charges, therefore, would prejudice the defense, according to the motion, because the jury could use evidence of one charge to influence their decision on the others.

She additionally is asking the court to outright dismiss 19 of the charges she faces. Similar to a prior motion filed by her co-defendant, Katrina Brown argues the mail and wire fraud charges and money laundering charges are “multiplicitous”. The defense says the single alleged offense is the scheme to defraud, so also charging the financial transactions that resulted from that could lead to multiple punishments for the same offense.

Katrina Brown is additionally moving to have portions of the indictment stricken.

One portion of the indictment details the “mission” of the Small Business Administration, which backed the business loan.

“Its inclusion in the Indictment serves a single purpose- inflaming passion and prejudice against Ms. Brown for defaulting on the BizCapital loan as her business failed,” the motion says.

Similar to her co-defendant, Katrina Brown also wants language dealing with a prior City Council vote awarding incentives to the business to be stricken, saying there is no evidence of anything “nefarious” with that vote, and it’s inclusion is designed to imply premeditated fraud.

Finally, Katrina Brown takes exception with how the indictment characterizes the warehouse where the business operated. The warehouse is described as where the BBQ sauce was “supposed to be manufactured”. The defense argues the sauce was manufactured at that site, even if the business overall was not profitable.

Both co-defendants have pleaded not guilty in this case, which is currently slated for trial in February. The government has not yet filed their response to these motions, nor has the judge indicated if a hearing will be set.

They were suspended from the Jacksonville City Council by Florida Governor Rick Scott, after the indictment was announced. Both have since been replaced on the 19-member governing body.

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