Citing the Jan. 6 select committee’s ongoing work as an impediment for both sides to prepare for trial, the Justice Department contended Tuesday that the Proud Boys leaders might wait until early 2023 to face a jury for the seditious conspiracy charges.
Despite the prominent role the Proud Boys had been given in the select committee’s televised hearings, Assistant US Attorney Jason McCullough noted that the panel has refused, for now, to share with the DOJ the transcripts of its 1,000 witness interviews.
However, the material on the crucial instigators of the riot that disrupted the transfer of power on Jan. 6, 2021, as the group has been described, may be released publicly in the next weeks or months.
McCullough noted that the select committee similarly endorsed a delay in the Proud Boys trial in a court filing last week that has frustrated the DOJ, which had initially intended to try the case in early August.
In a significant concession, DOJ proposed in Tuesday’s filing the jury selection to begin on Dec. 12, 2021, with opening statements being planned for the week of Jan. 2, 2023, which increases the likelihood that one of the most significant cases stemming from the Capitol riot won’t be resolved well after the second anniversary of the attack.
One of the main concerns the DOJ has at the moment is that the select committee’s release of the new batches of information could happen just as the trial gets underway.
McCullough noted the indications given by representatives of the Committee that the relationship between the Proud Boys and the Trump Administration will be the subject of a future hearing.
That increases the risk of the parties in the case finding themselves in an unprecedented position of litigating a criminal trial simultaneous to the Congressional report’s release that would present robust descriptions of the defendants’ criminal conduct.
Be the first to comment