Appeals Court Ruling May Threaten DOJ Position in Dozens of Jan. 6 Cases: Lawyer

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An April 7 decision issued by the D.C. Court of Appeals may jeopardize a key legal backing used by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to prosecute participants of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach, according to attorney Albert Watkins.

โ€œWhat this opinion did do was, it practically begged for other [Jan. 6] cases to be brought up to the Court of Appeals that would permit a more balanced opinion,โ€ Watkins, who has represented four Jan. 6 defendants, including released prisoner Jacob Chansley, told The Epoch Times in an interview on April 11.

Watkinsโ€™ comment came after a three-judge panel at the D.C. Court of Appeals, on April 7, struck down a lower courtโ€™s ruling in a 2โ€“1 vote, dismissing a federal charge against three Jan. 6 defendants, and rejected the lower courtโ€™s reasoning about the scope of the obstruction charge.

While the higher courtโ€™s ruling (pdf) allowed the DOJโ€™s prosecution of these three specific defendantsโ€”Joseph Fischer, Edward Lang, and Garret Millerโ€”to continue, the impact of the higher courtโ€™s opinion extends beyond these cases, the attorney said.

According to Watkins, this extended impact has to do with the interpretation of a term about โ€œcorruptโ€ intention in the wording of obstruction charges, considering that the DOJ has been using the obstruction charge as an โ€œattractiveโ€ legal tool to prosecute Jan. 6 cases and score plea agreements.

According to a provision in the statute for obstruction charge (18 U.S. Code ยง 1512 2(c)), โ€œWhoever corruptly โ€ฆ otherwise obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.โ€

A narrowed definition of this provision could hinder the DOJโ€™s ability to use the charge further and introduce uncertainties in the ongoing trials, the attorney indicated. The DOJ had charged more than 200 Jan. 6 defendants with obstruction-related charges.

โ€œIt should cause a certain degree of trepidation on the part of the Department of Justice about utilizingโ€”in a very footloose and fancy-free fashionโ€”the obstruction of an official proceeding charge as the count of choice for pleas,โ€ Watkins said.ย โ€œI will say it was, in many respects, an extraordinary opinionโ€”more time was spent addressing potential issues not before the court than the issues actually before the court.โ€

Byย Gary Bai

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