The son of a outstanding conservative activist has been convicted of costs that he stormed the US Capitol on 6 January 2021, bashed in a window, chased a police officer, invaded the Senate ground and helped a mob disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential election victory.
Leo Brent Bozell IV, 44, of Palmyra, Pennsylvania, was discovered responsible on Friday of 10 costs, together with 5 felony offenses, after a trial determined by a federal choose, in line with the federal justice division.
Bozell’s father is Brent Bozell III, who based the Media Analysis Heart, Dad and mom Tv Council and different conservative media organizations.
The US district choose John Bates heard testimony with no jury earlier than convicting Bozell of costs together with obstructing the January 6 joint session of Congress convened to certify the electoral faculty vote that Biden gained over then president Donald Trump, a Republican.
Bozell was “a significant contributor to the chaos, the destruction and the obstruction on the Capitol on 6 January 2021”, prosecutors stated in a pretrial court docket submitting.
The choose is scheduled to condemn Bozell on 9 January.
Bozell’s lawyer, William Shipley Jr, didn’t instantly reply to an electronic mail in search of touch upon Saturday.
Prosecutors stated that earlier than the riot, Bozell helped plan and coordinate occasions in Washington in assist of Trump’s “Cease the Steal” motion. They stated that after Trump’s rally close to the White Home on 6 January, Bozell marched to the Capitol and joined a mob in breaking via a police line. He smashed a window subsequent to the Senate wing door, creating an entry level for a whole lot of rioters, in line with prosecutors.
After climbing via the smashed window, Bozell joined different rioters in chasing a Capitol police officer, Eugene Goodman, up a staircase to an space the place different officers confronted the group.
Later, Bozell was captured on video getting into the workplace of the then Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat. He appeared to have one thing in his hand when he left, prosecutors stated.
Coming into the Senate gallery, Bozell moved a C-Span digital camera to face the bottom so it couldn’t document rioters ransacking the chamber on a reside video feed. He additionally spent a number of minutes on the Senate ground.
Bozell roamed thorough the Capitol for almost an hour, reaching greater than a dozen totally different components of the constructing and passing via at the very least seven police strains earlier than officers escorted him out, prosecutors stated.
In a pretrial court docket submitting, Bozell’s lawyer denied that Bozell helped overwhelm a police line or engaged in any violence in opposition to police.
“In actual fact, video proof will present that Mr Bozell assisted in some small method legislation enforcement officers that he thought could possibly be helped by his help,” Shipley wrote.
Shipley additionally argued that Bozell “was – for essentially the most half – merely misplaced and wandering from place-to-place observing occasions as they transpired”.
Bozell was arrested in February 2021. An FBI tipster who recognized Bozell acknowledged him partly from the “Hershey Christian Academy” sweatshirt that he wore on January 6.
Greater than 1,100 individuals have been charged with Capitol attack-related federal crimes. Greater than 650 of them have pleaded responsible. Roughly 140 others have been convicted by judges or juries after trials in Washington.
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