Thread by @ZoeTillman

Hello from Judge Randolph Moss' virtual courtroom, where Paul Hodgkins is set to become the 2nd Capitol insurrection defendant to plead guilty.

His original charging docs: assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2048…

Hodgkins will be pleading guilty to the most serious count he was indicted on, obstruction of an official proceeding (indictment: assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2050…) and the remaining misdemeanors for illegally entering the Capitol will be dismissed

Dialed in too late to hear this, apparently we have some special guests on the line as well

https://twitter.com/ryanjreilly/status/1400104044711063556

Meanwhile, a judge granted DOJ's motion to dismiss the case against J6 defendant Chris Kelly. Sadly this means the hearing set for today is cancelled, so no chance to hear from the feds on the record about what happened.

From yesterday: buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

Prosecutor summarizes the allegations against Hodgkins and the timeline of him going in the Capitol. Hodgkins says it's right, just quibbles with the chronology of putting on/taking off goggles. He also explains he put on rubber gloves to try to give first aid to a wounded person

Moss asks if Hodgkins understands the max sentence for the crime he's pleading guilty to is 20 years in prison, Hodgkins says he does. Keep in mind he's likely to face much less than that, the judge is now making sure he understands how the sentencing guidelines work

Voila: Moss says that the plea agreement spells out that Hodgkins' sentencing guidelines range is 15-21 months, way way way less than 20 years. The judge isn't bound by that, but it would be unusual under these circumstances (with a plea deal) for him to deviate from it

Whatever sentence Hodgkins gets matters for everyone else charged with obstruction (somewhere between 150-200 defs, by my rough tally), because it sets the bar for judges to compare other defendants to going forward. Hodgkins will benefit from pleading early, has no crim history

And just to clarify this tweet, meant it would be unusual for the judge to hand down a sentence above the guidelines under these circumstances. Defense could argue for less at sentencing

https://twitter.com/ZoeTillman/status/1400113353197031435

Hodgkins has now officially entered a guilty plea. The lawyers are discussing sentencing — Hodgkins' lawyer is up against an unusual calendar conflict, because he's deploying overseas this summer with the Army

It's unclear if the presentencing process can be completed before Hodgkins' lawyer has to deploy (he got deployment order in March, asked for a sentencing date in mid-July, normally takes 70 days), Moss will see what they can do and will set sentencing for July 19, but it's TBD

And that's a wrap for Hodgkins' plea hearing

Seeing some confusion, so just to clarify: Hodgkins' *lawyer* is deploying with the Army, which is why they want to speed up sentencing, not Hodgkins

https://twitter.com/ZoeTillman/status/1400117131874873349

Do I miss physically being in a courtroom to cover hearings? Very much so. Do I appreciate being able to remotely cover an entire plea hearing while waiting for a delayed doctor's appointment? Also yes.

Update: Here's J6 defendant Paul Hodgkins' plea agreement. No surprises, but one thing I didn't note during the thread earlier is that he agreed to pay $2K in restitution, his share of the $1,495,326.55 in damage done to the Capitol that day, per the govt
assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2079…