Jan. 6 Insurrection Anniversary: Where GA Cases Stand Today

GEORGIA — In the two years since the violent Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump, more than 900 people have been charged with crimes, including 22 who were arrested in Georgia, and the House select committee investigating the insurrection has recommended that Trump and some of his allies also be criminally charged.

In Georgia, defendants are:

• Dominic Box: arrested Dec. 15, 2022, in Savannah, no sentencing listed, no age found
• William Mccall Calhoun Jr.: arrested Jan. 15, 2021, in Macon, indicted Feb. 12, 2021, arraigned and pleaded not guilty March 1, 2021, no sentencing listed, no age found
• Kevin Douglas Creek: arrested June 9, 2021, in Johns Creek, sentenced May 2, 2022, to 27 months in prison, 12 months of supervised release and $2,000 restitution, was 47-years-old at the time of his sentencing as reported by the AJC
• Bruno Joseph Cuo: arrested Feb. 6, 2021, in Milton, indicted Feb. 10, 2021, arraigned and pleaded not guilty June 2, 2021, no sentencing listed, was 18-years-old at the time he rejected a plea deal and is the youngest defendant from Georgia in relation to the riot as reported by 11Alive
• Michael Shane Daughtry: arrested Jan. 15, 2021, in Georgia’s Middle District, pleaded guilty March 10, 2022, sentenced June 9, 2022, to two months of home detention, 36 months of probation, $500 restitution and 60 hours community service, was 60-years-old at the time of his sentencing as reported by the AJC
• John David Ross Gould: arrested March 15, 2022, in Norcross, was 45-years-old at the time that he pleaded guilty as reported by the AJC, no sentencing is listed
• Charles Hand III: arrested March 11, 2022, in Butler, pleaded guilty Oct. 14, 2022, no sentencing listed, was 35-years-old at the time of his plea deal as reported by the AJC
• Joseph Daniel Hutchinson III: arrested June 30, 2021, in Albany, arraigned and pleaded not guilty July 8, 2021, no sentencing listed, was 25-years-old at the time of his indictment as reported by the Department of Justice — the DOJ reported Hutchinson is originally from Florida
• Nolan Harold Kidd: arrested June 11, 2021, in Macon, pleaded guilty Feb. 7, 2022, sentenced May 9, 2022, to 45 days in jail and $500 restitution, was 21-years-old at the time of his arrest as reported by the AJC
• Jonathan Davis Laurens: arrested June 30, 2021, in Duluth, pleaded guilty Feb. 2, 2022, sentenced June 10, 2022, to 60 days of home detention, 12 months of probation, 60 hours of community service, $742 fine and $500 in restitution, who was 39-years-old at the time of his plea deal as reported by Channel 2
• Ronald Loehrke: arrested Dec. 3, 2021, in Cumming, no court disposition or sentencing listed, was 30-years-old at the time of his arrest as reported by 11Alive
• Jake Maxwell: arrested Feb. 10, 2022, in Flowery Branch, no court disposition or sentencing listed, was 20-years-old at the time of his arrest as reported by 11Alive
• Savannah Danielle McDonald: arrested June 11, 2021, in Macon, pleaded guilty Jan. 18, 2022, sentenced May 10, 2022, to to 21 days in jail and $500 in restitution, was 20-years-old at the time of the riot as reported by the AJC
• Verden Andrew Nalley: arrested Feb. 19, 2021, in Georgia, pleaded guilty and entered a plea agreement Dec. 2, 2021, sentenced March 10, 2022, to two years of probation, $500 in restitution and 60 hours of community service, was 50-years-old at the time of his sentencing as reported by the AJC
• Joseph Lino “Jose” Padilla: arrested Feb. 23, 2021, in Georgia, superseding indictment filed Nov. 10, 2021, no sentencing listed, who was 41-years-old at the time of a June 2022 hearing as reported by the Chattanooga Times Free Press — the outlet reported Padilla is originally from Cleveland, Tennessee
• Mandy Robinson-Hand: arrested March 11, 2022, in Butler, pleaded guilty Oct. 14, 2022, no sentencing listed, was 46-years-old at the time of her plea deal as reported by the AJC
• Blas Santillan: arrested Aug. 23, 2021, in Clayton, pleaded guilty May 17, 2022, sentenced Sept. 23, 2022, to 45 days of incarceration, 36 months of probation and $500 restitution, was 27-years-old at the time of his sentencing as reported by the AJC
• Glen Mitchell Simon: surrendered May 5, 2021, entered a plea agreement April 29, 2022, sentenced Aug. 12, 2022, to eight months of incarceration, 12 months of supervised release, $1,000 fine and $500 restitution, was 31-years-old at the time of his sentencing as reported by Fox 5 Atlanta
• Benjamin Henry Torre: arrested Feb. 9, 2021, in Dawsonville, pleaded guilty March 9, 2022, sentenced July 7, 2022, to 12 months of probation, including two months of home detention, 60 hours of community service, $1,113 fine and $500 restitution, was 24-years-old at the time of his plea deal as reported by the AJC
• Brian Ulrich: arrested Aug. 9, 2021, in Guyton, pleaded guilty April 29, 2022, no sentencing listed, was 44-years-old at the time of his plea deal as reported by the DOJ
• Matthew Webler: arrested Dec. 3, 2021, pleaded guilty Feb. 1, 2022, sentenced May 3, 2022, to 45 days in prison (time served) and $500 in restitution, was 43-years-old at the time of his sentencing as reported by the AJC
• Jack Wade Whitton: arrested April 1, 2021, in Locust Grove, pleaded guilty Sept. 3, 2022, no sentencing listed, was 32-years-old at the time of his plea deal as reported by the DOJ

The violent siege on the Capitol two years ago was an attempt to stop the certification of electoral votes declaring Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 presidential election. It resulted in the deaths of five people during or soon after the attack, including two Capitol police officers and one rioter. About 140 police officers from the U.S. Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department were assaulted in the attack, according to the Justice Department.

It was the first in U.S. history that the transfer of power from one administration to another was not peaceful. In a speech before rioters attacked the Capitol, Trump repeated the same claims he had been making in the two months since the election that it had been stolen, then urged his supporters to walk from the rally site on the National Mall to the Capitol.

Biden is expected to mark the two-year anniversary of the insurrection with remarks Friday in the East Room of the White House, according to a schedule released Monday by his office. The White House did not provide details, according to reports from The Hill and others.

In a blistering criticism of the insurrection last year, Biden did not mention Trump by name, but squarely blamed the “defeated president” for the attack he said raised global concerns about the future of American democracy.

During its sweeping nearly 18-month investigation, the Jan. 6 committee, made up of seven Democrats and two Republicans, interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses, held 10 hearings and obtained more than a million pages of documents before releasing its 814-page report last month.

The panel came to the unanimous conclusion that Trump coordinated a “conspiracy” on multiple levels, pressuring states, federal officials and lawmakers to try to overturn his defeat, and inspired a violent mob of his supporters to attack the Capitol and interrupt the certification of Biden’s win.

Chairman Bernie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, called the final report a “roadmap to justice” for Trump, whose actions leading up to the insurrection were the nearly singular focus of the committee.

“Donald Trump lit that fire,” Thompson wrote in the committee’s final report. “But in the weeks beforehand, the kindling he ultimately ignited was amassed in plain sight.”

The committee’s criminal referral asks the Justice Department to consider charges against Trump related to inciting an insurrection, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make a false statement and obstruction of an official proceeding. The referral is largely symbolic, and the Justice Department is under no obligation to comply with recommendations in the unprecedented referral.

Witnesses, who ranged from many of Trump’s closest aides to law enforcement officers to some of the rioters themselves, detailed Trump’s “premeditated” actions ahead of the attack and told the committee how his wide-ranging efforts to overturn his defeat directly influenced those who brutally pushed past the police and smashed through the windows and doors of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

In the months, weeks and days leading up to Jan. 6, “stop the steal” rallies built on the former president’s unsubstantiated accusations were held in Trump strongholds and swing states. The first was four days after the 2020 presidential election, on Nov. 7, 2020, at the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg, but other notable rallies were held in Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia and North Carolina.

From Jan. 5-7, 2021, Trump supporters staged 39 “stop the steal” protests in their state capitals, according to a report from the Bridging Divides Initiative, a project of Princeton University

Channel 2 Action News reported two “Stop the Steal” rallies took place outside of the governor’s mansion and outside of the Georgia Capitol in late November 2020. According to the outlet, protesters had Trump 2020 and American flags and signs that read, “Stop the steal.”

The attack promoted the most expansive federal law enforcement investigation in U.S. history. The FBI has offered a reward of up to $500,000 for information leading to the conviction of those responsible for placing pipe bombs in Washington on Jan. 5, 2021. The agency is still seeking the public’s help to identify people pictured in 1,433 photos taken the day of the insurrection.

Less than half (335) of the cases have been adjudicated and the defendants have received their sentences, including 185 who have been sentenced to incarceration.

Among the most closely watched trials was that of Oath Keepers leaders Stewart Rhodes and Kelly Meggs, who were found guilty of seditious conspiracy — the most serious of the charges so far — in late November.

Three of their co-defendants were acquitted of the charge. Four other individuals have pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy charges, the most serious of those filed so far in the investigation.

Seditious conspiracy charges reflect the Justice Department’s belief that the Capitol breach was a grave threat to the operation of the U.S. government.

Under the rarely-used federal seditious conspiracy law, enacted after the American Civil War, charges are filed when two or more people plot to “overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the United States or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder or delay the execution of any law of the United States. …”

As the federal criminal cases continue, the FBI is continuing to ask the public’s help in finding others who participated in the attack, which cell phone technology made one of the most documented crimes in U.S. history. Many of the Justice Department’s cases have been built on video footage of the attack, social media posts, phone location data and tips from the public, and federal prosecutors say hundreds more cases could be filed.

Trials will continue this year and perhaps into 2024.