Wheels of justice grinding slowly for New Yorkers charged in Capitol riot
As protesters returned Saturday in support of the U.S. Capitol rioters, the prosecutions of 43 New Yorkers charged in the Jan. 6 rampage through the Washington landmark remain largely unresolved.
A Daily News review of federal court documents showed few of the local suspects are close to a final determination of their legal woes eight months later: Two are scheduled to take pleas in October, while another three remain in plea negotiations.
The charges were also dropped against one former defendant in June, leaving more than three dozen cases unresolved.
“They may believe if they hold out, the pleas will get better,” said veteran Manhattan defense attorney Ron Kuby. “And another thing — when you plead guilty in federal court, the sentencing judge is not bound by any agreement the two sides make.
“For people who don’t trust the government, a nod and a wink that you won’t do any time is not persuasive.”
Four New Yorkers still remain behind bars, each accused of major roles in the rampage that followed an incendiary speech where then-President Donald Trump insisted without evidence that his November defeat by Joe Biden came in a fixed election.
The incarcerated men — Thomas Sibick, 35, of Buffalo; Dominic Pezzola, 43, of Rochester; Matthew Greene, 33, of Syracuse, and Edward Lang, 26, of Newburgh — were charged in court papers as primary participants in the attack watched live by a stunned nation.
A 37-page federal court filing laid out Lang’s busy day on Jan. 6, with allegations of kicking one cop as the law enforcer lay on the ground, pushing a closed door against the head of a trapped police sergeant and swinging a baseball bat at police officers 16 times during his 2½ hours at the Capitol.
Pezzola, a member of the Proud Boys like Greene, lit up a victory cigar inside the Capitol once the landmark was breached, court papers charged, adding that he was “one of the first rioters in the building.”
A video showed Pezzola smashing through a window with a plastic shield, and a second video captured him bragging about the invasion, authorities charged.
“I knew we could take this motherf——r over [if we] just tried hard enough,” he allegedly declared afterward.
Greene was imprisoned in early August by a federal judge who cited “the gravely serious charges against him ... including one Congress has characterized under these circumstances as a federal crime of terrorism.”
And Sibick was accused by prosecutors with “one of the worst assaults” by ripping the badge off an injured D.C. police officer and stealing the law enforcer’s radio.
He was initially released in March, then imprisoned again four days later by the District of Colombia’s chief judge.
He acknowledged burying the badge in his backyard, with defense lawyer Stephen Brennwald citing the admission as the pivotal moment in Sibick’s prosecution.
“Everything changed and he’s been in jail since then,” the attorney said. “It’s been over six months. He’s just had a very difficult time with this.”
Marty Tankleff, lawyer for both Lang and Pezzola, argued in court papers that his Proud Boy client merited a chance for release on bail.
“Since the inception of this case, the government has distorted truth and misrepresented facts in a deliberate effort to compensate for its inability to demonstrate that Dom should be detained,” he wrote in a recent filing.
Court documents indicated the government was working to extend a plea agreement to Philip Grillo, 46, of Queens, a Republican Party official identified by the Knights of Columbus jacket he was wearing on Jan. 6, according to the FBI.
As of last week, federal prosecutors charged more than 600 people from more than 40 states with participating in the riot, and more arrests are expected as the hunt for additional suspects continues. An Associated Press review of court and jail records found roughly five dozen suspects still in federal custody, including the four men from New York.
The horde of homegrown miscreants was the first to invade the Capitol since British troops set the building afire back on Aug. 24, 1814.
Court papers illustrate the sheer enormity of the legal process. Federal officials released 2,300 hours of body camera footage to defense attorneys just this month, including what was described by authorities as “approximately 1,000 assaults on officers.”
Another 1,600 hours of Capitol Police surveillance footage is also available, representing just 20% of the video from Jan. 6.
Defendant Christopher Kelly, cleared in June when prosecutors failed to prove he was inside the building, declined to comment on his case when contacted by the Daily News.
The defendants still enjoy the support of the man who addressed the crowd before the rioting kicked off.
“Our hearts and minds are with the people being persecuted so unfairly related to the January 6th protest concerning the Rigged Presidential Election,” Trump said last week.
“In addition to everything else, it has proven conclusively that we are a two-tiered system of justice.”