Thread by @ZoeTillman

Hello from Judge Randolph Moss' courtroom (I'm listening remotely) where Jan. 6 defendant Lucas Denney is set to plead guilty to one count of assaulting police after a key missed deadline by the govt jeopardized their ability to pursue a longer list of felonies, incl. conspiracy

What happened was, prosecutors missed the deadline to indict Denney after his arrest, violating his speedy trial rights. In the meantime, the govt did secure an indictment, but for just one charge. They'd wanted the case dismissed w/out prejudice, meaning they could try again

Denney had moved to dismiss the case, but changed course, deciding instead to plead guilty to that single charge in the late indictment — assaulting police w/ a weapon — rather than give the govt another shot at pressing the full set of charges he'd faced at the start

Dial-in info to listen to the hearing before Judge Moss, plus court rules:
dcd.uscourts.gov/covid-19-emerg…
Toll Free Number: 877-336-1839
Access Code: 4817814

There's no agreement with the government here, Denney just pleaded guilty to the lone count in the indictment at the arraignment stage

Deleted this tweet and rethreading the other updates on today's hearing because it's a complicated situation, and I don't think this accurately reflected DOJ's options going forward — that they could try to reindict him, but it's not clear how double jeopardy might come into play

It's possible the govt could try to charge Denney again; AUSA says they haven't decided that.

Moss has said before, and says now, that there's a chance Denney could raise a double jeopardy argument if the govt did try to charge him again, but he warns the govt could still try

It sounds like Denney did not fully understand these dynamics (that the govt could try to bring more charges, notwithstanding the potential that they could face a double jeopardy challenge), and he's now going into a breakout with his lawyers

Moss is back on the bench with the parties. He's having Denney confirm he understands the govt could bring more charges in the future since there's no agreement in place stopping them from trying

Denney's lawyer William Shipley says there's a circuit split that weighs in their favor on the question of whether double jeopardy would preclude the govt from pursuing the rest of the charges from the orig. complaint. Moss asks if the DC Circuit has weighed in, Shipley says no

Moss is going ahead with providing an overview of Denney's rights and having him confirm he's admitting to the elements of the count he's pleading guilty to, assaulting/interfering with an officer using a weapon (swinging a pole, Denney specifies it was plastic)

Denney says he swung the pole to block pepper spray, but acknowledges he hit an officer

Moss has accepted Denney's guilty plea on the assault count; sentencing guidelines are TBD, the govt calculated it at 57 to 71 months and the defense had it lower at 41 to 51 months. Denney will remain in custody pending sentencing, which the judge sets for June 9