Hello from Judge Amit Mehta's virtual courtroom, where a plea hearing is about to begin in the case of Jan. 6 defendant John Lolos — he was arrested after getting flagged by police for his disruptive behavior on a flight out of DC two days later -->
Lolos is pleading guilty to parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building, a misdemeanor with a max sentence of 6 mos in jail — this is the most common charge we've seen in plea deals so far, and the other three misdemeanors he's charged with will be dropped
Lolos tells Mehta that he can pay the restitution in full now, so he doesn't agree with a part of the deal that requires him to submit info about his finances to the US attorney's office — prosecutor says that's not negotiable, and Lolos says he'll continue with the plea
(Prosecutor tells the judge that Lolos' lawyer raised this issue during negotiations and the govt made clear this was a required part of the deal)
Lolos' plea deal also includes a partial cooperation agreement, that he agrees to speak with law enforcement. Lolos says he thought he already did that, and notes the FBI interviewer questioned him "very rudely" — prosecutor says yes, the interview already happened
Lolos' next issue is he says the statement of facts about him going into the Capitol is accurate, but he wants it known for the record that while he was inside, a police officer motioned to him and said "come in, come in" — prosecutor says that is *not* part of the plea deal
Lolos says he just wants that known, but prosecutor makes clear that he can't have it both ways — that if Lolos wants to renegotiate what's part of the record in his plea deal, they've got to end this and go back to the table. Lolos is now in a breakout room with his lawyer
The hearing is back on — Lolos' lawyer Edward MacMahon Jr. says his client is not trying to change the statement of facts, and wants to proceed with the plea hearing, maybe will raise his version of events at sentencing
Mehta gives this whole exchange a lot of room to unfold because, as he notes, by pleading guilty Lolos is giving up the right to raise this kind of defense to the charges (aka the idea that a police officer invited him in)
Mehta goes over penalties Lolos faces, and brings up supervised release, which govt/defense indicate doesn't apply here. Lolos begins to ask if that has to do with him being searched multiple times at the airport and his lawyer swiftly tells him to stop talking, it's not relevant
Lolos seems to express some concern when Mehta explains to him that although he's agreed to pay $500 in restitution, the decision about restitution is ultimately in the judge's discretion. But after the judge goes over it again, they move on without an objection from Lolos
Mehta is reciting standard language about possibility of Lolos giving up rights by pleading guilty to a crime, like voting/gun ownership, and Lolos' lawyer asks if the judge can make that clear those aren't affected by a misdemeanor plea, since Lolos might have issue with that
Mehta reframes it, and asks if Lolos understands that there may be certain rights implicated by his plea, and Lolos says he does — "I would still like to vote and own a firearm," he adds
That's a wrap on Lolos' plea hearing, he's due back for sentencing on Nov. 19

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More from @ZoeTillman

6 Aug
Hello from Judge Royce Lamberth's virtual courtroom, where the first of two back-to-back plea hearings in the Jan. 6 cases is about to get underway — both involve defendants charged with assaulting police at the Capitol, which is a first and will mark another important milestone
First up is Scott Fairlamb, who, among other things, was charged with punching one officer in the head s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2046… Image
Fairlamb is one of several dozen Jan. 6 defendants in pretrial detention while his case is pending, so he's appearing for today's plea hearing by video from jail (I'm listening to the audio feed remotely so I can't see him, but they just noted that)
Read 12 tweets
6 Aug
Today marks 7 months since Jan. 6, some stats on where the prosecution effort stands:
- 565 people charged to date
- 1 case dropped by the govt (Chris Kelly) + 1 case where the defendant died (Joseph Barnes)
- 31 guilty pleas (+2 set for later today)
- 6 people sentenced
- This is another number that fluctuates daily, but by my last count, 63 defendants are in pretrial detention/pending a detention hearing (I have six people whose dockets haven't been updated yet)
- Of the 31 guilty pleas entered to date (more are scheduled for the coming weeks, but I don't count them until they're accepted by the judge, because you never know), 6 involve at least one felony count, the rest are misdemanors
Read 4 tweets
6 Aug
New: Prosecutors are arguing that Robert Reeder, who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor re: Jan. 6, should spend two months in jail — despite his plea, they say, "he appears to be proud of his participation" s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2103… ImageImage
The govt highlights this exchange during the plea hearing in June where the AUSA called b.s. on Reeder's attempt at arguing he didn't think he was barred from going inside the Capitol Image
Govt: "Simply put, Defendant’s position is divorced from reality and is evidence of a larger issue presented in this sentencing."
Read 6 tweets
4 Aug
Hello from Judge Thomas Hogan's virtual courtroom, where Jan. 6 defendants Joshua and Jessica Bustle are due to the sentenced shortly after pleading guilty to a single misdemeanor. Previously on those pleas: buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
The govt is asking for one month of home confinement for Joshua Bustle (s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2103…) and three months of home confinement for Jessica Bustle (s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2103…), citing her "incendiary" language about what happened
Hogan says there shouldn't be a presumption of probation as the punishment in these misdemeanor-only cases related to the Capitol riots, so he tasks the defense with explaining why the Bustles shouldn't get any jail time
Read 31 tweets
4 Aug
Hello from Judge Amy Berman Jackson's virtual courtroom, where a plea hearing is about to get underway in the case of Jan. 6 defendant Karl Dresch. More here -->
Catching up on filings from yesterday in the meantime, three more plea hearings were added to the calendar for Jan. 6 defendants:
- Scott Fairlamb, which is notable because we haven't had pleas yet in cases involving people charged with assaulting police: s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2046…
- Glenn Croy, which is another misdemeanor-only case (his codefendant Terry Lindsey's case remains pending as of now): s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2048…
Read 23 tweets
3 Aug
The first substantive challenge to the Jan. 6 prosecutions so far is the argument that the feds overreached in bringing a felony count for obstructing an official proceeding (charged in 250+ cases). @emptywheel has a great thread going on arguments today:
In advance of today's hearing, DOJ filed a doc listing the seven cases where defendants have raised a similar challenge to the obstruction charge (note that some of these involve multiple defendants): s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2103…
Obstruction of an official proceeding is, for many defendants, the only felony and the most serious charge they're facing — it carries a max sentence of up to 20 years. It's what we saw in the case of Paul Hodgkins, the first felony plea to face sentencing buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Read 5 tweets

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