Georgia Lawyer Billed in Capitol Riot Rejects Government Plea Deal

• A Ga lawyer billed in the Capitol riot will carry on to trial right after rejecting a plea deal.
• William McCall Calhoun Jr. faces 3 rates stemming from his function in the siege, together with a felony.
• Prosecutors say Calhoun documented his participation in the attack with comprehensive social media posts.

A Ga lawyer who made a number of threatening social media posts in the aftermath of the January 6 attack will head to demo afterwards this year immediately after rejecting a governing administration plea offer previously this thirty day period.

William McCall Calhoun Jr. faces three expenses stemming from his function in the insurrection, such as a felony depend of obstructing an formal continuing, as effectively as getting into a restricted building and violent entry or disorderly perform. 

As the authorities operates to prosecute the extra than 760 folks arrested in connection with the assault, federal prosecutors have presented a number of Capitol rioters a lesser demand in trade for guilty pleas. But for the duration of a Monday status hearing, Calhoun’s authorized team announced he had declined the government’s plea deal, according to WUSA. 

If convicted of the felony obstruction charge, Calhoun could deal with up to 20 several years in jail.

Prosecutors say Calhoun documented his participation in the Capitol riot with detailed social media posts that integrated photographs and films. In one particular Facebook article from January 6, Calhoun wrote that he was amid “the initially of us who received upstairs kicked in Nancy Pelosi’s place of work doorway and pushed down the hall towards her inner sanctum,” according to charging files.

“Ridiculous Nancy almost certainly would have been torn into very little items, but she was nowhere to be found,” Calhoun reportedly wrote in a person submit.

In one more, Calhoun explained he aided “provide our Governing administration to its knees,” and vowed to return “armed for war,” in accordance to screenshots of his posts bundled in charging files. He also admitted to overrunning several police barricades and swarming the developing on the lookout for customers of Congress in his Fb posts.

But prosecutors say Calhoun was publishing threatening political posts even in advance of the insurrection, which prompted an nameless tipster to alert the FBI to the lawyer’s social media existence in November 2020. The unnamed tipster told the FBI that Calhoun experienced posted a concept encouraging individuals to storm Washington, DC, when overtly carrying firearms, according to charging files.

The caller also alleged that Calhoun wrote “some of you will are living prolonged ample to be exterminated with extreme prejudice,” and “we are going to kill every previous communist who stands in Trump’s way.”

In a prolonged statement to Insider, Calhoun managed that his perform at the Capitol was nonviolent and component of a tranquil protest. 

“In sum, my ‘crime’ was that I peacefully walked as a result of the Capitol and took movies — this is 100% corroborated by the Capitol’s video cameras,” Calhoun said.

Calhoun recurring numerous falsehoods in the assertion, emphasizing his ongoing belief in the false idea that President Joe Biden lost the election to previous President Donald Trump accusing the “Democrat managed DOJ” of persecuting him and suggesting that the prosecution of Capitol rioters quantities to “communism.”

“I will not be intimidated, and I will under no circumstances bend the knee to the Communists by pleading responsible to a little something I did not do,” he claimed.

An attorney for Calhoun explained she supported her client’s decision to decrease the plea present.

“I consider he built the correct choice, and I am confident that the evidence will display that he is not responsible of what he is currently being charged of,” Jessica N. Sherman-Stoltz claimed. “I glimpse ahead to proving his innocence at demo.”

Calhoun was arrested with his good friend, Verden Andrew Nalley, in January 2021 and billed the subsequent month. In December, Nalley pleaded guilty to a single count of moving into and remaining in a restricted setting up. 

Calhoun is because of back in courtroom in April wherever a federal decide is set to announce a demo day.