John Fitzgerald Johnson: NFAC Leader’s Federal Trial, Sentence, and Plea

Grandmaster Jay’s conviction came out of a September 2020 confrontation in Louisville, Kentucky, where a federal jury found that John Fitzgerald Johnson, founder of the Not F***ing Around Coalition (NFAC), pointed a rifle-mounted flashlight at federal task force officers watching an armed protest from a rooftop. In May 2022, jurors convicted him of assaulting federal officers with a deadly weapon and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence. He was sentenced on November 9, 2022, to 86 months — seven years and two months — in federal prison.¹

The September 4, 2020 Rooftop Incident

On the evening before an NFAC march near Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby day, federally deputized task force officers from the FBI, U.S. Secret Service, and Louisville Metro Police Department were conducting surveillance from the roof of the Jefferson County Grand Jury Building. They were monitoring armed protesters gathered at Jefferson Square Park.²

According to the criminal complaint, officers were blinded by a flashlight mounted on an AR-platform rifle that Johnson aimed in their direction. Two of the rooftop officers wore soft body armor with “Police” placards. None had drawn handguns; one carried a rifle but did not point it at Johnson or the protesters.³ Officers said they perceived a direct threat and feared Johnson could discharge the weapon, noting that the distance was well within an AR-style rifle’s effective range.²

Johnson was arrested on December 3, 2020, at his home in West Chester, Ohio. Agents seized six assault-style rifles, body armor, and ammunition during the search.⁴

The Federal Charges and Trial

A federal grand jury in the Western District of Kentucky indicted Johnson on two counts: assaulting a federal officer using a deadly or dangerous weapon under 18 U.S.C. § 111(b), and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A). The case was docketed as No. 3:21-cr-00031.⁵ The assault count alone carried a maximum penalty of 20 years.³

At trial in Louisville, Johnson testified that his AR-15 was unloaded with the safety engaged and that he had only been scanning the area with the barrel-mounted flashlight.⁶ Defense counsel argued that Johnson’s prior inflammatory statements about police had been made in anger over the death of George Floyd, and that he was being prosecuted because he was a “Black man with a gun.”⁷

Prosecutors presented multiple video angles of the rooftop incident and introduced Instagram videos in which Johnson urged followers to attack police officers, seize their body cameras, and destroy police vehicles.⁶ They called the defense’s arguments “smoke and mirrors” and said the prosecution had nothing to do with Johnson’s race.⁷ The jury returned guilty verdicts on both counts in May 2022. The judge then denied defense motions for acquittal and a new trial and refused to release Johnson pending sentencing.⁵

The Federal Sentence

On November 9, 2022, Johnson received 86 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.¹ Federal law requires prisoners to serve at least two-thirds of the sentence imposed.⁸ His attorney, Murdoch Walker II, said he intended to appeal.⁹

The State Alford Plea

The same conduct produced a parallel state case. On January 26, 2023, Johnson entered an Alford plea in Jefferson Circuit Court to five counts of wanton endangerment for pointing his rifle at five Louisville Metro police officers during the September 2020 incident. An Alford plea lets a defendant maintain innocence while conceding that prosecutors have enough evidence to convict.¹⁰

He received a one-year state sentence to run concurrently with his federal term. The plea agreement provides that if the federal sentence is set aside on appeal, the state conviction is also set aside and a new plea agreement would be negotiated.¹¹

Where He Is Now

Supporters say Johnson is incarcerated at the federal prison in Ashland, Kentucky, as of 2025. A Change.org petition started that March calling for his release had gathered several hundred signatures. Supporters describe the conviction as politically motivated, call the sentence disproportionate, and frame the prosecution as an effort to silence an activist leader.⁹ Petition comments claim he has undergone two open-heart surgeries while incarcerated and earned a doctorate in the federal prison system; those claims have not been independently verified.

What the Case Did to the NFAC

The NFAC rose to national visibility in 2020 through regimented armed marches in Louisville, Kentucky; Stone Mountain, Georgia; Brunswick, Georgia; and Lafayette, Louisiana.¹² The Louisville demonstrations, demanding accountability for the police killing of Breonna Taylor, were the group’s largest.¹³

Pretrial release conditions ended that trajectory. A judge barred Johnson from possessing firearms and from accessing social media, cutting him off from the Instagram shows he had used twice daily to recruit and mobilize members. By mid-2021, the NFAC had held no further large-scale marches, Johnson’s following had contracted to a small group of loyalists, and his leadership was reduced to phone calls and emails.¹³

1
U.S. Department of Justice. Cincinnati Man Sentenced to 7 Years and 2 Months in Federal Prison for Assaulting and Brandishing
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U.S. Department of Justice. Feds Charge NFAC Leader Grandmaster Jay
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U.S. Secret Service. NFAC Leader Grandmaster Jay Charged With Assaulting Law Enforcement Officers
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Cincinnati Enquirer. Questions Surround Black Militia Leader John Grandmaster Jay Johnson
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GovInfo. USCOURTS-kywd-3_21-cr-00031
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WAVE 3 News. Grandmaster Jay Found Guilty of Pointing AR-15 at Officers During Louisville Protests
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The Atlanta Voice. Grandmaster Jay Found Guilty of Pointing Rifle at Armed Police
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WDRB. Grandmaster Jay Sentenced to Prison on Federal Charges Connected With Breonna Taylor Protests
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Cincinnati Enquirer. Militia Leader Grandmaster Jay Sentenced Breonna Taylor Protests Louisville
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WDRB. Grandmaster Jay Sentenced for Pointing Rifle at Officers During Breonna Taylor Protest
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WAVE 3 News. Grandmaster Jay Sentenced to Prison for Pointing Rifle at Officers During Protests
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CNN. NFAC Black Armed Group
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The Trace. NFAC Black Militia Grandmaster Jay Prosecution