Rules of engagement: Lenient plea deals are off the table for some Capitol riot defendants https://www.insider.com/lenient-plea-deals-are-off-table-many-capitol-riot-defendants-2021-8 According to defense attorneys, US prosecutors are drawing a line in the sand for Capitol riot suspects. Attorneys told Insider that several groups of defendants will not be able to decrease their charges. This includes members of the police, military veterans, people who entered the Senate chamber, and more. The US Department of Justice is in a pickle. Authorities have prosecuted at least 600 suspected rioters from January 6 in local and federal courts, but less than 30 have pleaded guilty, bogging up the justice system and forcing an abrupt reallocation of resources. Insider spoke with Capitol riot defense attorneys who said it appears that the DOJ has created "rules of engagement" for prosecuting the January 6 insurrectionists — in what appears to be a way of triaging the backlog of cases. Insider previously reported that pleading down to misdemeanor charges was off the table for rioters who breached the Capitol and entered the Senate chambers, but it now appears that the DOJ has its sites set on felony charges for a far-larger group of rioters. Paul Hodgkins received the first felony sentencing from the Capitol riots in July. His attorney, Patrick Leduc, explained to Insider that the following groups of protestors won't be able to plea down from a felony to misdemeanor charges: Rioters on the floor of the Senate Rioters who entered lawmaker's offices Rioters that damaged the Capitol Rioters who stole paperwork/items from desks Any current or former police officers or military veterans Hodgkins was ultimately sentenced to 8 months in prison for "obstruction of an official proceeding" — Hodgkins entered the Senate chamber on January 6 and took a few "selfies" before leaving the building. Despite being one of the first guilty pleas and his attorney's insistence, he was unable to lower the plea to misdemeanor charges and avoid prison time. "You were on the floor of the Senate? You're getting a felony," Leduc told Insider. "You entered somebody's office? You're getting a felony. You screwed with the cop? You're getting a felony. You engaged in property damage. You're getting a felony. You went in and took something off someone's desks or, or you're a police officer or you were in the military? You're getting a felony. So all of those people are getting felonies. " (More at above url)
Capitol rioter who created a 'nightmare' for cops seeks looser restrictions so he can 'walk his dog' https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-rioter-daniel-egtvedt/ A Jan. 6 rioter who fought violently and repeatedly with police at the Capitol is asking a judge to loosen his pretrial restrictions so that he can "walk his dog," "work on the farm" and "volunteer with his church." Daniel Egtvedt is a politically connected, Trump-loving salesman from Maryland who posted about the QAnon conspiracy movement prior to the Capitol insurrection, according to the Daily Beast, which described his actions on Jan. 6 as a "nightmare for police." According to a criminal complaint, Egtvedt was seen in photos and videos pushing through a line of Capitol police officers to storm the building before interacting bizarrely with several cops, including screaming at one to "shoot me." He clashed with police at least three times and screamed into a fellow rioter's livestream, "We're not backing away; this is our house!" Egtvedt, who's charged with nine felony and misdemeanor counts in connection with the insurrection, was released from jail in April with strict conditions. In a motion filed Aug. 8, his attorneys asked a judge to "remove the condition of electronic location monitoring." "Mr. Egtvedt would simply like the opportunity to walk his dog, take a greater role in the care for his mother, work at the farm, and volunteer with his church," Egtvedt's attorneys wrote, pointing out that another Jan. 6 defendant was released from electronic monitoring even though he carried a deadly weapon into the Capitol. "There is no threat to the community posed by Mr. Egtvedt which is evidenced by his perfect record of compliance since his release," his attorneys wrote. The motion does not explain why electronic monitoring would prevent him from walking his dog or conducting the other activities listed. Scott McFarlane, and investigative reporter with NBC's Washington affiliate, reported Monday that he was awaiting a response from the Department of Justice or the court to Egtvedt's motion.
Capitol rioters get smacked down in court for remaining defiant while pleading guilty https://www.rawstory.com/guilty-capitol-rioters/ Several Capitol rioters pleading guilty to charges stemming from the Jan. 6 insurrection have remained defiant — prompting judges and prosecutors to consider revoking deals or seeking harsher sentences. CNN cited the case of Boyd Camper, whose plea hearing was recently postponed after his attorney objected to an agreement saying he entered the Capitol "unlawfully." "Then this plea doesn't go forward," a judge told Camper's lawyer. "If he's in there and doesn't think he did anything wrong, then there is no plea." In another case, Capitol rioter Robert Reeder argued he should receive probation because he only went into the Capitol to look for water after getting pepper-sprayed, and faulted police for not effectively guarding the building. "Mr. Reeder, who had never been in the Capitol before, was struck by the awe and the beauty of the Rotunda and began taking pictures and videos," his attorneys wrote. Prosecutors responded by asking the judge to sentence Reeder to jail time, saying his statements were "a self-serving rewrite of history that sought to portray himself as a hapless tourist, absolve himself of any wrongdoing (and) place blame on others." Another Capitol rioter, John Lolos, claimed during a plea hearing that police waived him in to the Capitol basement. "I just wanted to get that off my chest (and) on the record," Lolos told the judge, prompting a DOJ prosecutor to ask if the defendant wanted to back out of a plea agreement. Lolos attorney responded that his client would stay in the agreement but may raise the issue at sentencing, when he faces up to six months in jail. Meanwhile, in other cases, Capitol rioters have expressed remorse that turned out to be insincere. Anna Morgan-Lloyd apologized to a judge for her "shameful" participation in a "savage display of violence," CNN reports. A day later, she went on Fox News and called the rioters "very polite," and said police were "relaxed" and "didn't tell anybody to leave." Although it was too late to change Morgan-Lloyd's sentence of probation, her about-face caught the judge's attention, prompting him to later question whether another defendant was expressing "true acceptance of responsibility." Read the full story here.
The FBI's primary weapon in tracking down January 6 insurrectionists? The people who actually know them apparently hate them every bit as much as the rest of us do. The FBI Keeps Using Clues From Volunteer Sleuths To Find The Jan. 6 Capitol Rioters NPR - https://tinyurl.com/e9rkh4cf As rioters made their way through the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, many of them livestreamed their actions and posted photos and videos on social media. That steady stream of content created an enormous record of evidence that law enforcement needed to sift through to build cases against the accused. Now, more than 575 federal criminal complaints have been filed, and a striking pattern has emerged: Time and time again, the FBI is relying on crowdsourced tips from an ad hoc community of amateur investigators sifting through that pile of content for clues. These informal communities go by a number of names: Some go by the moniker Sedition Hunters. Others call themselves Deep State Dogs. Together, they amount to hundreds of people who since Jan. 6 have dedicated themselves to helping law enforcement track down suspects. Their cumulative work represents what is likely the largest spontaneous, open source information collection and analysis effort ever conducted by volunteers to assist law enforcement. Sedition Hunters are mentioned by name in at least 13 cases, other complaints reference specific social media handles of volunteers, and still more refer to evidence voluntarily submitted by tipsters — many of whom do not seem to know the accused — citing information on public platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Parler. (More at above url)
"Dead men can't pass laws": Capitol rioter charged with threatening Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock Proud Boy found with over 1,000 rounds of ammunition, swords, hatchets, and nearly 80 military-style combat knives https://www.salon.com/2021/08/18/de...with-threatening-georgia-sen-raphael-warnock/ A New York City Proud Boy pleaded guilty for threatening to slice "a throat" and assassinate freshman Sen. Raphael Warnock, R-Ga., before and during the Capitol insurrection. The Queens man, Eduard Florea, 41, admitted to his own guilt by video on Monday from a federal jail in Brooklyn, and is now facing up to fifteen years in prison for one count of transmitting threats to injure and another count of possessing ammunition after a previous conviction. Court documents show Florea's increasingly violent rhetoric leading up to the swearing in of Warnock, who in a momentous Georgia runoff election last year established himself as the state's first black senator in U.S. history. "Warnock is going to have a hard time casting votes for communist policies when he's swinging with the fish," Florea wrote on Parlor, a microblog popular with conservatives, on Jan. 5, just ahead of the fatal riot he participated in a day later. "Dead men can't pass [expletive] laws," he added that day, also mentioning "definitely slicing a throat" during the coming insurgency. As the riot unfolded, Florea disseminated messages to his fellow insurrectionists looking to breach the Capitol and thereafter attack sitting politicians. "I am ready," he wrote on Parlor. "We need to regroup outside of DC and attack from all sides … talking to some other guys … I will keep watching for the signal." Florea continued: "The time for peace and civility is over," he wrote on the app. "Guns cleaned loaded … got a bunch of guys all armed and ready to deploy … we are just waiting for the word," "It's time to unleash some violence," the Proud Boy added. On January 12, federal agents stormed Florea's neighborhood in Queens, raiding his home, where they found over 1,000 rounds of ammunition, swords, hatchets, and nearly 80 military-style combat knives. According to The New York Times, Florea had already been convicted of illegally possessing an AR-15 and a semiautomatic shotgun back in 2014, rendering his recent possession of ammunition illegal. Florea is set to be sentenced on November 29, according to federal prosecutors. "With today's guilty plea, Florea admits to threatening the life of a successful candidate for the U.S. Senate and to urging others to take up arms to unleash violence at the Capitol," Jacquelyn M. Kasulis, the acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement. "This office is deeply committed to protecting our democratic institutions and to using all available tools to preserve the public safety, uphold the rule of law and support the peaceful transfer of power." Back in March, a federal indictment revealed that 60 Proud Boys had used encrypted messages to plan out their attack on the Capitol. So far, at least 25 members of the far-right militia have been charged in connection to the riot.
Rioter Who Allegedly Stole Pelosi Laptop Was in Neo-Nazi Chatroom https://www.thedailybeast.com/riley...ol-riots-was-in-neo-nazi-chatroom-says-report Riley June Williams, who was accused of stealing a laptop used by the staff of Nancy Pelosi during the Jan. 6 insurrection, appears to be a member of a neo-Nazi chatroom, according to screenshots given to VICE. Using an alias, it’s believed Williams made posts in a chatroom called “The Camps”, which has been linked to white supremacist Christopher Pohlhaus. Bellingcat researchers previously found a video Williams made before Jan. 6 in which she gave the “Heil Hitler” salute before giving a nod to Pohlhaus. Pohlhaus says he doesn’t remember seeing Williams in his chatroom but says he warned his followers not to participate in the Capitol riots. “I stress to my guys to never go to these things and the people will never change anything,” he said. Williams has pleaded not guilty to her charges connected to the riots, claiming that she never stole the laptop. Read it at VICE