Background: Violent rioters loyal to President Donald Trump storm the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. (AP Photo/John Minchillo). Inset top to bottom: Former Oath Keepers attorney Kellye SoRelle; (YouTube/Jon Francis campaign video./ Proud Boys Jan. 6 defendant Arthur Jackman appears in Justice Department provided photo from Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021./ Gina Bisignano at Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Image via FBI.
Impact from the Supreme Court‘s decision narrowing how an obstruction charge can be applied in Jan. 6 cases is rippling out as prosecutors have begun dropping charges against certain defendants and making plea deals to others.
As Law&Crime reported in June, after hearing oral arguments, the justices delivered a 6-3 decision in Fischer v. United States which found that prosecutors had overstepped when they charged or convicted rioters under 18 U.S. Code § 1512(c) for obstructing the official duties of lawmakers certifying the election on Jan. 6, 2021. Instead, the high court’s interpretation found that the obstruction statute only applied to matters of evidence tampering.
This finding — which Justice Amy Coney Barrett excoriated in a dissent joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan — has an impact on at least 250 Jan. 6 cases to date.
Now, roughly three weeks since the decision was issued, charges have been dropped or plea deals have been made in a burgeoning and diverse set of cases including those involving certain defendant Proud Boys and Oath Keepers members who appeared in Washington, D.C., after former President Donald Trump‘s invitation to “be there” for a “wild” and “big protest” on Jan. 6.
One case of late that has seen a direct benefit from the Fischer ruling is that of Florida resident and Proud Boys member Arthur Jackman.
The Proud Boys is an extremist network that describes itself as “western chauvinist,” which amounts to a euphemism for a jingoistic and misogynist ideology promoting western supremacy. The group saw many of its chapter leaders, including the group’s head honcho, the currently-imprisoned Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, charged and convicted with a number of felonies including the most serious offense to be brought out of the more than 1,400 Jan. 6 cases: seditious conspiracy. Tarrio is now serving 22 years.
Leaders of the Oath Keepers, including organization head Elmer Stewart Rhodes and chapter leader Kelly Meggs, were both convicted of seditious conspiracy too while others they were tried with were acquitted of that topmost charge. Rhodes and Kelly were, however, convicted under the obstruction statute; Meggs was convicted as well of conspiracy to obstruct official proceedings. Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years.
As for Arthur Jackman, while he was not charged with being part of the seditious conspiracy to use force to stop the certification of the 2020 election, he was seen in photos and video on Jan. 6 that showed him stalking the Capitol’s hallways briefly with Proud Boys member Joseph Biggs, the former Infowars contributor who was tapped by Tarrio to be a leader in the extremist group and then was convicted of seditious conspiracy alongside him.
Now, footage from hallway near chaplains office. Kevin Tuck, Eddie George, Arthur Jackman and Joe Biggs are in hall, congregating near a door for a moment. When Biggs walks up, he stands next to a US flag. Jackman is fiddling with it before he removes it from its stand
— Brandi Buchman (@Brandi_Buchman) March 8, 2023
Jackman was charged with far lesser offenses than seditious conspiracy.
But he was charged with obstruction of an official proceeding as well as entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, entering and remaining in the gallery of Congress and other misdemeanor offenses.
Neither Jackman nor any of his four co-defendants including Paul Rae, Edward George Jr., Kevin Tuck or Nathaniel Tuck have faced trial to date, though they have been indicted since 2021.
Background: Circled in red is Proud Boys member Arthur Jackman of Florida who appears in a selfie photo taken by convicted seditious conspirator and Proud Boy leader Joseph Biggs on Jan. 6, 2021 at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Inset: Circled in red on left is Jackman; circled in red on right is convicted seditious conspirator Zachary Rehl. Photos courtesy U.S. Justice Department.
In their motion to drop the obstruction charge against Jackman, prosecutors offered a terse explanation that both directly reflected the Supreme Court’s ruling as well their own awareness of the ticking clock to finish out the Jackman matter.
“The government is still evaluating Fischer’s impact on its January 6 prosecutions. Nonetheless, in the interest of maintaining the current September 9 trial date in this matter, and without waiving any arguments in response to the Tucks’ supplement, the government does not plan to proceed to trial on Count One in this case. The government notified defendants of its position on July 9,” the two-page motion states.
Plea deals are also underway, like in the long-awaited case of Kellye SoRelle, the former Oath Keepers attorney and onetime girlfriend to leader Stewart Rhodes.
Left: Kellye SoRelle (YouTube/Jon Francis campaign video). Right: Stewart Rhodes (Collin County (Tex.) Jail).
Her prosecution was an uphill battle for the Justice Department once the matter was put into limbo for months after she was deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial and ordered to be restored. She was found competent, but amid all the waiting, the Supreme Court issued its ruling in Fischer. And as Law&Crime reported, within a week of that decision SoRelle struck a deal and agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to obstruct the certification of the 2020 election.
SoRelle is also charged with the newly-kneecapped obstruction count. It is expected it will be wiped away too. Notably, she was scheduled to appear for a plea hearing on Wednesday until it was moved on Tuesday to Aug. 21.
New: Kellye Sorelle and federal prosecutors seek to move her guilty plea hearing from Wednesday (July 17) to August 21.
Background: pic.twitter.com/qGzNMM0POr— Brandi Buchman (@Brandi_Buchman) July 16, 2024
Elsewhere in the constellation of Jan. 6 prosecutions, the Justice Department has agreed to drop an obstruction charge for California beautician Gina Bisignano.
Bisignano was accused of obstructing police and assisting fellow rioters to breach the Capitol by smashing a window and then climbing through it herself. She also used a bullhorn to declare “You’re not going to take away our Trumpy Bear” as she tore through the grounds.
Gina Bisignano at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 (via FBI)
She ultimately pleaded guilty to five of seven charges in 2021 leaving her on track for trial on the obstruction charge and a destruction of property charge only.
On Thursday afternoon, Bisignano will appear virtually for a status conference with the Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols to determine next steps after prosecutors filed a motion on Tuesday to dismiss the obstruction count.
In that motion, prosecutors note Bisignano’s trial is scheduled for Aug. 5 and that this date has been on the books since February after the trial was continued from April. Prosecutors were waiting for the opinion in Fischer, they wrote.
Gina Bisignano (left) via FBI
Now that they have it, as well as the beautician’s “quickly-approaching trial date,” prosecutors sought to drop her obstruction charge “to promote judicial economy and efficiency,” the motion states.
Her final pretrial conference is scheduled for July 26.
These cases are far from the only ones affected by the ruling, and months of reconfiguring will likely unfold across the dockets.
And while it seems like a long shot, prosecutors could face a new Jan. 6 headache soon after this one: On July 12, Jan. 6 rioter John Nassif filed a writ of certiorari with the high court asking them to reconsider his parading and demonstrating in the Capitol conviction in the wake of Fischer. As Law&Crime reported, if the justices were to humor Nassif’s request for a hearing and then put it on track for oral arguments and furthermore ruled in his favor, at least 500 cases could be affected.
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