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Judge Reduces Sentence of Tax Protester Elaine Brown To Time Served

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A federal judge has reduced the sentence of Elaine Brown to time served.

In 2009, Brown was sentenced to 35 years in prison for taking part in a months-long armed standoff at the fortress-like Plainfield home she shared with her husband Ed Brown, after the couple was convicted of tax evasion in 2007.

The move follows a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year that allowed her to challenge her convictions.

She's now being released after serving 12 years.

Brown had told he court she was ashamed by her decision to follow her husband into a "rabbit hole" of extremism and criminality. She is seeking a divorce.

When U.S. Marshals apprehended the Browns in 2007, they found homemade bombs, sniper rifles and 60,000 rounds of ammo.

But during a hearing in Concord, Judge George Singal said Elaine Brown "no longer presents any risk," and praised the-79 year-old former dentist, who appeared at the hearing via video, for displaying "a degree of repentance that is almost biblical in nature."

Brown gasped when Singal announced her sentence reduction.

Brown is being held in a Texas prison. She is scheduled to be released Feb. 28.

Josh has worked at NHPR since 2000.
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