Assault on the Capitol (DC)

[Kendra]

#Thread: U.S. Government very much still wants to keep Landon Copeland, a Utah man arrested in #CapitolRiot, in jail pending trial. Here's excerpts of a new filing, via
@MacFarlaneNews
. First, my earlier interview with L.C.:

[Kendra]

https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_6116 ... ssion=true

For months, the widow of D.C. Metropolitan Police Department Officer Jeffrey Smith ― who died by suicide after protecting the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 ― has been trying to figure out exactly what happened to her husband the day that a mob of Donald Trump supporters stormed the seat of the U.S. legislative branch because they believed online conspiracy theories that the election was stolen.

Erin Smith, the widow of the 12-year MPD veteran, knew that her husband had been assaulted with a metal object of some kind. But she was stonewalled at every turn, even as she’s attended events at the White House where President Joe Biden honored Jeffrey Smith, who died on Jan. 15, and others who defended the Capitol. MPD refused to turn over footage from Jeffrey Smith’s body-worn camera, which would show what he went through that day. And she was battling with the Police and Firefighters Retirement and Relief Board in Washington, trying to convince them to find that her husband’s death by suicide was a line-of-duty death.

For months, the widow of D.C. Metropolitan Police Department Officer Jeffrey Smith ― who died by suicide after protecting the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 ― has been trying to figure out exactly what happened to her husband the day that a mob of Donald Trump supporters stormed the seat of the U.S. legislative branch because they believed online conspiracy theories that the election was stolen.

Erin Smith, the widow of the 12-year MPD veteran, knew that her husband had been assaulted with a metal object of some kind. But she was stonewalled at every turn, even as she’s attended events at the White House where President Joe Biden honored Jeffrey Smith, who died on Jan. 15, and others who defended the Capitol. MPD refused to turn over footage from Jeffrey Smith’s body-worn camera, which would show what he went through that day. And she was battling with the Police and Firefighters Retirement and Relief Board in Washington, trying to convince them to find that her husband’s death by suicide was a line-of-duty death.

[Kendra]

Seems like a nice guy...

[filly]

#Thread: U.S. Government very much still wants to keep Landon Copeland, a Utah man arrested in #CapitolRiot, in jail pending trial. Here's excerpts of a new filing, via
@MacFarlaneNews
. First, my earlier interview with L.C.:

Wow, that local Fox story is crazy! This guy's family was FLDS, then got ex-communicated because his dad assaulted someone who he thought molested his little girl (hello, Warren Jeffs!). Bad conduct military discharge. Drug charges. No doubt his defense lawyer is thrilled he did that interview.

[Maybenaut]

Wow, that local Fox story is crazy! This guy's family was FLDS, then got ex-communicated because his dad assaulted someone who he thought molested his little girl (hello, Warren Jeffs!). Bad conduct military discharge. Drug charges. No doubt his defense lawyer is thrilled he did that interview.

According to the article they were excommunicated, not because his dad molested anyone, but because his dad got convicted of assaulting someone he thought had touched his daughter inappropriately. In Jeffs-land that probably amounts to the same thing, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the excommunication had more to do with the dad not willing to pimp out his daughter.

I tried to find an opinion on Landon Copeland at the Army Court of Criminal Appeals, but couldn’t find anything. I have a case number, but couldn’t find any decision. That’s unusual but it does happen - sometimes the Clerk doesn’t upload the decision, so it doesn’t appear in the Army Court website or Lexis. He did appeal the Army Court’s decision to the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, but that petition was denied without comment.

[Kendra]

https:/ /mobile.twitter.com/natecarlisle/status/1426280267765862402

#Thread: U.S. Government very much still wants to keep Landon Copeland, a Utah man arrested in #CapitolRiot, in jail pending trial. Here's excerpts of a new filing, via
@MacFarlaneNews
. First, my earlier interview with L.C.:

Wow, that local Fox story is crazy! This guy's family was FLDS, then got ex-communicated because his dad assaulted someone who he thought molested his little girl (hello, Warren Jeffs!). Bad conduct military discharge. Drug charges. No doubt his defense lawyer is thrilled he did that interview.

That is seriously cray-cray. A must read.

[Kendra]

Plea discussions underway in the Jan 6 case of Dennis Sidorski of Loudoun County, Virginia

Sidorski is accused of wearing "American Supremacist" sweatshirt & entering Statuary Hall. Coworker tipped feds. He pleaded not guilty in March

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/8 ... fraud-lies

Jan. 6 looked scary, but on Jan. 3 the U.S. came within hours of a coup supported by the DOJ

January 6 was not the only coup attempt of the 2020 cycle, nor the most dangerous. Screaming white nationalist militia smearing excrement on the halls of Congress as they searched for lawmakers to hang may have been a shocking visualization of just how far Donald Trump’s supporters were willing to go in their support for an authoritarian America. However, behind the scenes, that authoritarian was scheming to use the vast powers of his office to blow away the election results and engage a coup that would involve the Department of Justice (DOJ), Republican state officials, the Supreme Court, and ultimately the military in a scheme to simply assassinate democracy.

The outlines of this plan have been clear for some time: Working with DOJ lawyer Jeffrey Clark, Trump schemed to replace the acting attorney general, have the DOJ issue a statement that the election had been rigged, and invite Republican legislators to name their own slate of Trump delegates to the Electoral College. At the same time, the DOJ would send a brief to the Supreme Court asking them to set the election aside and call for a “special election” under new rules. The end result appears to have been modeled on the proposals of disgraced former general Michael Flynn, who came to the White House and laid out for Trump a plot to declare a “do over” in the election, with the military taking control of the voting process.

Perhaps the most terrifying part of all this was how far along it all went. Clark had already drafted letters to legislators in Georgia. Work was underway on the legal brief for the Supreme Court. The whole scheme seemed to be literally hours away from execution and was only thwarted because of another part of Trump’s efforts to overturn the election—the part that involved former U.S. attorney Byung Pak.

And on Wednesday, Pak gave closed-door testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, confirming that he resigned rather than go along with the coup.

[raison de arizona]

[Kendra]

#CapitolRiot: In his motion to withdraw, Daniel Caldwell's attorney, John Hunter Smith, says he and his client have a "philosophical disagreement" over the direction of the case. Also says Caldwell's family can no longer afford to retain private counsel.
@wusa9

[Maybenaut]

#CapitolRiot: In his motion to withdraw, Daniel Caldwell's attorney, John Hunter Smith, says he and his client have a "philosophical disagreement" over the direction of the case. Also says Caldwell's family can no longer afford to retain private counsel.
@wusa9

Nice way of saying, “My client wants me to make legally frivolous arguments, and I’d like to keep my law license, TYVM.”

[bob]

I guess you can say we broke up because of artistic differences. He saw himself as alive and I saw him dead.

[Gregg]

#CapitolRiot: In his motion to withdraw, Daniel Caldwell's attorney, John Hunter Smith, says he and his client have a "philosophical disagreement" over the direction of the case. Also says Caldwell's family can no longer afford to retain private counsel.
@wusa9

Nice way of saying, “My client wants me to make legally frivolous arguments, and I’d like to keep my law license, TYVM.”

So he either ends up Pro Se or with Klayman.

[bill_g]

I see my flag fringe futures investment paying out bigley. TYVM.

[Kendra]

BREAKING: The feds have arrested a body-building Trump fanatic who dragged a cop down the steps outside the tunnel on Jan. 6. #CatSweat #SeditionHunters

[Kendra]

Back on the Capitol riot beat after a little time off. In the inbox: It appears Douglas Jensen, the man charged with leading the mob that chased Officer Eugene Goodman, may have violated his pretrial release conditions in the month since his release. Prev: https://buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil ... an-release

[Kendra]

[Kendra]

[Kendra]

NOTEWORTHY:

High profile defendants are saying NO to plea deals today

Zach Alam (accused of smashing window to Speaker Lobby, near Ashli Babbit)

Tom Robertson (local cop accused of buying 34 guns while on release)

They're both in jail. Gotta wonder what's in plea offers

[Jim]

Gotta wonder what's in plea offers

That's easy, felony conviction, no more gunz. They can't function without their sex toys.

[much ado]

Gotta wonder what's in plea offers

That's easy, felony conviction, no more gunz. They can't function without their sex toys.

Yeah. Also, they still think they can get off. They didn't do anything wrong.

[noblepa]

Gotta wonder what's in plea offers

That's easy, felony conviction, no more gunz. They can't function without their sex toys.

They may also be diehard Trump followers and welcome the chance to prove in court that they did nothing wrong and that Trump actually won the election.

I wonder; if they or others go to trial and hope to convince the world that they are right, they or their lawyers will surely attempt to pack the jury with TFG true-believers. They will hope for, at least, a hung jury.

The prosecution will, of course, try to prevent this. My question for the IAAL's here is this: If the prosecutors ask a potential juror if they believe that TFG won the election and they answer "yes", is that grounds to dismiss the juror?

In any event, jury selection is going to be interesting.

[Maybenaut]

NOTEWORTHY:

High profile defendants are saying NO to plea deals today

Zach Alam (accused of smashing window to Speaker Lobby, near Ashli Babbit)

Tom Robertson (local cop accused of buying 34 guns while on release)

They're both in jail. Gotta wonder what's in plea offers

Alam is every bit as responsible for Babbit’s death as she is. I hope he gets some serious time (after he’s received all of the due process to which he is entitled, that is).

[Kendra]

Court docket confirms that Logan Barnhart is part of a superseding indictment in a preexisting case. The co-defendants we know about: Jeffrey Sabol, Peter Stager, Michael Lopatic, Clayton Mullins, Jack Whitton. #seditionhunters #CatSweat

[bob]

My question for the IAAL's here is this: If the prosecutors ask a potential juror if they believe that TFG won the election and they answer "yes", is that grounds to dismiss the juror?

There are two kinds of potential juror dismissals: for-cause and peremptory.

Prospective jurors can be asked almost anything, and many questions do seek information that may shed light on other beliefs. (A popular example would be asking if a potential juror is an NRA member, as that's a good indicator of other values.) So I would not be surprised if the election results are explored during voir dire.

As for dismissal, for-cause dismissals are "free," i.e., a party can request as many as they desire; the judge could grant as many as the circumstances warrant.

But any potential juror who expresses disagreement with the election results will almost certainly be asked follow-up questions like, "Regardless of your beliefs about the election, could you set that aside and judge this only on the evidence from the trial?" (This is counsel coaxing the potential juror to say yes.)

Even if the potential juror says yes, however, there can still be a motion for a for-cause dismissal. And the parties will argue intangibles like credibility and body language. The judge may (and likely will) make rulings like, "Based on the juror's tone of voice and lack of eye contact, I find the juror would not be able to judge the case based only on the facts; that juror is excused."

If there's no follow-up questions, the court would most likely deny a for-cause dismissal, as there's no evidence the potential juror couldn't serve. The prosecutor could argue that the refusal to accept the election results is tantamount to also refusing to accept the judge's authority, but I'd be surprised if a judge would buy into that.


Peremptory challenges can be made for (almost) any reason, but each party only gets a finite number of them.

The challenges could be used in tandem, i.e., move for a for-causes dismissal, but if that's denied, then exercise a peremptory challenge.