Some Jan. 6 defendants accused of other crimes since Capitol attack

The U.S. Capitol attack was against the law in contrast to any in American historical past. But for some of the defendants accused of crimes associated to the riot, it is solely been the start of their authorized troubles.

A CBS News evaluation of U.S. Justice Department court docket filings reveals a rising quantity of Jan. 6 defendants have been arrested once more, for subsequent crimes involving weapons, medicine and home abuse. The new fees complicate their skill to safe lenient sentences of their circumstances associated to the rioting on Jan. 6, 2021, and so they probably jeopardize makes an attempt by other Capitol riot defendants to safe pretrial releases of their circumstances.

The Justice Department has charged roughly 870 folks with crimes in relation to the Capitol attack. A small share — a number of dozen — are being held in pre-trial detention. Thirty of the defendants are being detained within the Washington, D.C., jail.

In one instance, U.S. Navy reservist Hatchet Speed, who’s accused of becoming a member of a bunch of Proud Boys as he went to the Capitol on Jan. 6, is dealing with two separate prosecutions.

The Justice Department charged Speed in June for his alleged involvement within the Capitol breach. In charging paperwork, prosecutors alleged Speed blamed Antifa for breaking home windows. He additionally allegedly accused then-Vice President Mike Pence of betrayal and mentioned, “It should have gotten to the point where Nancy Pelosi should have resigned out of fear for her life. That’s what should have happened.”

Speed has pleaded not responsible to 4 federal fees in his Jan 6 case. But whereas awaiting trial, he is been indicted on a collection of further fees within the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Prosecutors alleged Speed unlawfully possessed firearms silencers and likewise made a collection of firearms purchases after Jan. 6, 2021, in what they known as a $50,000 wave of “panic buying.”

Prosecutors alleged an undercover FBI agent met with Speed in February. During the assembly, prosecutors alleged Speed’s feedback (*6*) 

In court docket filings within the Virginia case, prosecutors mentioned, “Speed also made comments sympathizing with domestic terrorists Eric Rudolph and Ted Kaczynski.” They alleged that “Speed made comments discussing his admiration for Adolf Hitler, describing Hitler as ‘one of the best people that’s ever been on this earth’ and stating that he ‘really want[s] somebody like Hitler to stand up and say, we’re going to stand against this moral incineration that we’re seeing in the western world.'”

The fees in Virginia complicate the intense authorized jeopardy Speed faces from his alleged involvement within the Capitol riot. In addition to a Sept. 30 listening to and potential trial in his Capitol attack case in Washington, D.C. federal court docket, Speed faces arraignment on Sept. 22 on the firearms fees within the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va.

In the wake of his arrest and felony fees, prosecutors have requested the federal courts to order circumstances forbidding the defendant from possessing firearms, damaging units, or other weapons, and imposing dwelling detention and site monitoring. Speed’s protection lawyer declined remark.

Another Virginian arrested in a U.S. Capitol riot case has additionally been arrested on new fees since then.

Kene Lazo, who was arrested in May 2021 for his function within the Capitol siege, was arrested once more three months later in Norfolk, Va., on home violence fees.

Lazo pleaded responsible earlier this 12 months within the Capitol riot case. He was sentenced to 45 days in jail. At sentencing, prosecutors argued that on Jan. 6, 2021, Lazo wore an American flag cape, carried a Captain America-style protect affixed to a small wooden-handled broom, and he wore what seemed to be a black tactical vest and physique armor.

As half of their argument to safe a jail sentence for Lazo, the Justice Department argued Lazo had a felony historical past exterior of the Capitol riot case, together with the Aug. 2021 arrest and subsequent conviction for home violence. Details of the home violence case have been included in preliminary court docket filings by the Justice Department, however later sealed from the general public docket.

Lazo’s protection lawyer didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.

University of Maryland regulation professor Michael Greenberger mentioned the distinctive politicization of the prosecutions associated to Jan. 6, together with by former President Donald Trump, will increase the danger of recidivism by some of the defendants. Greenberger mentioned the continuing denials the 2020 election outcomes by some political leaders and the discuss of future pardons for Jan. 6 defendants by Trump “leaves these bad actors with little doubt that  they will ultimately be forgiven—if not lionized.”

Greenberger mentioned, “Reality, however, is likely to settle upon those guys  when they are ultimately sentenced or resentenced to many years in jail.”

The arrest and investigation of Elias Costianes in his Jan. 6 case led federal brokers to conclude that he dedicated other crimes at his dwelling in Maryland. In an affidavit submitted to the federal court docket in Baltimore, an FBI agent mentioned investigators executed a “Capitol riot warrant” at Costinanes’ dwelling in Feb. 2021.

According to the affidavit, through the execution of the warrant investigators “Searched the basement of the residence and—consistent with COSTIANES’s statement — found four firearms: a Glock Model 17 9mm pistol, a Smith & Wesson M&P 15 semi-automatic rifle, a Ruger Mini-14 Ranch Rifle .223 caliber semi-automatic rifle, and a Remington Model 870 shotgun. Although the Glock and the Smith & Wesson were registered to COSTIANES, the other two firearms were not.”

The FBI affidavit mentioned brokers additionally discovered a hypodermic needle within the sofa cushions of Costianes’ dwelling and 4 vials that every contained a transparent substance and have been labeled Testosterone Enanthate, which the court docket filings recognized as a managed substance beneath federal regulation. Costianes is scheduled for a March 2023 listening to on the gun and drug fees in Maryland U.S. District Court.

His subsequent court docket date in his Capitol riot case is about for October. In his Jan. 6 case, Costianes is accused of coming into the second degree of the Senate chamber, overlooking the Senate flooring. He’s altering protection attorneys, in keeping with protection lawyer Joseph Conte, who was initially representing Costianes in each circumstances.