Washington — Almost 740 people have been charged for allegedly taking part within the January 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol, a CBS Information rely reveals. Solely 240 have entered responsible pleas, leaving greater than 500 defendants whose circumstances have but to be resolved.
One Texas man is ready to be the primary of these to battle the costs at a trial by jury, testing the proof uncovered by the Justice Division's sprawling investigation into the breach. And he'll accomplish that within the face of an unprecedented well being disaster.
Man Wesley Reffitt of Wylie, Texas — husband, father of two youngsters and alleged affiliate of the Three Percenters militia group — has been indicted on 5 counts. He is accused of transporting a rifle and a semi-automatic handgun to Washington, D.C., after which carrying the handgun onto U.S. Capitol grounds, the place he allegedly participated within the January 6 riot and threatened legislation enforcement officers. He is certainly one of solely a handful of defendants accused of carrying a firearm.
He's additionally charged with obstruction of justice, illegally getting into the Capitol advanced, and obstructing Congress' counting of the 2020 Electoral School votes — a course of that in the end affirmed the election of President Joe Biden.
Reffitt pleaded not responsible to all 5 counts and has made numerous unsuccessful makes an attempt to have a few of the fees dismissed; he has claimed that the legal guidelines he's accused of breaking are "obscure" and violate his constitutionally protected freedom of speech.
His legal professional didn't reply to CBS Information' request for remark.
Reffitt has written a letter to the choose presiding over his trial, Dabney Freidrich, declaring that the thought that there have been crimes dedicated on the Capitol on January 6 is a lie.
"When all of the lies and hyperbole have been peeled away, the world will know the reality. There was no rebellion, no conspiracy, no sinister plan and no purpose to assume in any other case," Reffitt wrote.
Prosecutors from the U.S. legal professional's workplace in Washington, D.C., will attempt to show in any other case on February 28, when Reffitt's trial begins.
"The Division of Justice must win this case," former federal prosecutor Scott Fredericksen advised CBS Information. "If it loses this case, if it messes up in any means, there's going to be big criticism of the Division of Justice. DOJ would look unhealthy."
In keeping with a assessment of courtroom filings and pretrial hearings, prosecutors will use open-source and surveillance movies, textual content messages, and numerous testimony — together with from Reffitt's personal youngsters — to attempt to show their case.
Prosecutors plan to attempt to present Reffitt focused two lawmakers, Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi and then-Senate Majority Chief Mitch McConnell, and that he deliberate to attempt to take away them from the Capitol. The federal government additionally alleges that Reffitt, along with his gun holstered at his waist, charged two U.S. Capitol Law enforcement officials, who struggled to push him again earlier than lastly stopping him with pepper spray.
Investigators later discovered the same holster on his bed room nightstand. Reffitt, nonetheless, claims he wasn't armed and objects to the federal government's proposed use of the FBI agent as a witness.
Reffitt, in response to courtroom paperwork, described his run-in with police "in a covertly recorded dialog, shortly after the assault."
Prosecutors will possible current that dialog and others prefer it at trial, together with a few of the tens of 1000's of proof recordsdata from the investigation. As of November of 2021, the federal government had made obtainable to Reffitt's protection staff over 23,000 recordsdata of surveillance and body-worn digital camera video depicting the size of the assault.
Investigators are usually not solely within the crimes Reffitt is accused of committing on Capitol grounds on January 6, however are additionally inspecting his conduct earlier than and after the assault.
In late December, a member of the family advised the FBI that Reffitt was "'going to do some critical harm'' associated to federal legislators in Washington, D.C.," in response to authorities filings.
As soon as within the nation's capital, in response to the federal government's memo in help of pretrial detention, Reffitt allegedly messaged that he was doing "recon" of the Capitol space and would "surveil the environment for like-minded Patriots and see if now we have sufficient marching with warmth."
And after he allegedly participated within the Capitol assault, investigators say Reffitt then traveled again to Texas, the place his two teenage youngsters and spouse reside, and talked about his membership within the mob that overran the Capitol.
Reffitt allegedly advised his son and daughter, "In the event you flip me in, you are a traitor and you understand what occurs to traitors...traitors get shot," in response to conversations investigators had with Reffitt's partner as described in courtroom paperwork. "Reffitt's son took Reffitt's statements as a risk to his life," prosecutors wrote in one other courtroom submitting.
"The defendant's son and the daughter…[will] testify that they spoke to the FBI when the FBI got here to their residence executing the search warrant. They will discuss concerning the defendant admitting that he got here to the Capitol," Fredricksen, the previous federal prosecutor, mentioned. "And much more explosively, they are going to testify that they had been threatened by the defendant that in the event that they had been to cooperate with the FBI that — because the indictment fees — that may make them traitors."
Calling the defendants' household to testify is a novel problem posed by Reffitt's case, says Fredericksen.
"A important piece of that's that you just can't over-try that case. It's important to be delicate," he mentioned, "The jury goes to be taking a look at what the federal government's doing, placing the youngsters of the defendant on the stand. So the federal government will put this in a really matter-of-factly… as a result of it might probably backfire."
Reffitt tried unsuccessfully to maneuver his high-profile case and trial out of Washington, D.C. He's certainly one of a number of January 6 defendants who has argued potential jurors within the District of Columbia might be biased towards him.
In a September 2021 courtroom submitting, Reffitt's protection mentioned, "There are such a lot of tales that some are dispassionate and factual, however many others which are editorial and inflammatory. District residents have been bombarded with fixed protection of the January sixth occasions, arrests, and felony fees."
Reffitt requested the courtroom to switch his case to the Japanese District of Texas. Prosecutors opposed the movement, arguing it was untimely to hunt a change of venue earlier than jury choice. Additionally they argued, "Given the sheer variety of folks concerned within the assault on the Capitol, it's unlikely that greater than a handful of District residents might determine him by title."
Reffitt's movement was rejected by the District of Columbia federal choose.
Different defendants have made related arguments concerning the sentiments of potential jurors. Protection attorneys for Gabriel Garcia, a U.S. Capitol breach defendant from Miami, submitted a personal ballot of Washington, D.C., residents concerning the occasions of January 6, 2021. In keeping with Garcia's courtroom submitting final week, the polling agency discovered 70% of individuals surveyed believed anybody who went contained in the Capitol on Jan 6, 2021 was attempting to cease Congress' certification of the electoral vote.
The survey submitted by Garcia's authorized staff additionally discovered 73% of respondents answered "sure" when requested if any particular person contained in the Capitol on January 6 ought to be convicted of rebellion.
Former federal public defender Lucius Outlaw, a legislation professor at Howard College, mentioned protection attorneys will possible argue their January 6 defendants didn't have "intention of obstructing and disrupting Congress."
Outlaw mentioned D.C. jurors have possible seen the photographs and movies captured through the Capitol assault.
Outlaw mentioned, "If there are photos of your shopper within the Capitol or scaling a wall, the problem is: You possibly can't say my man wasn't there. It isn't going to be about whether or not [the] shopper was there or not. It is going to be about 'What was their intention?'"
The Washington, D.C., federal courtroom is anticipated to re-open to jurors Monday, after weeks of closures because of the unfold of the Omicron variant. The courthouse would require jurors to put on KN-95 masks or double-layered masks, which might additionally pose an issue.
Fredericksen says such pandemic precautions, whereas essential, might make this difficult case much more tough for prosecutors by interfering with attorneys' capacity to instantly talk with the jury.
"If the jury is unfold out, if anyone's sporting a masks, should you're behind plexiglass divider," he mentioned, "it makes it a bit tougher, a bit extra synthetic, if you'll, to strive circumstances."
"Legal professionals have discovered to strive circumstances throughout these occasions, they usually're doing it. They're doing it efficiently," Fredericksen added.
Jury choice forward of Reffitt's trial is ready to start on February 28.