A New Mexico man was convicted Tuesday of a misdemeanor charge for his actions during the failed coup d’etat on Jan. 6, 2021, which disrupted a joint session of Congress that was confirming President Joe Biden’s electoral vote victory in the 2020 election.
A day earlier, an off-duty police officer from Virginia and a man who at the time of the insurrection was an elected member of the West Virginia House of Delegates each pleaded guilty to felony charges related to the violent attempt to keep Donald Trump in power despite his defeat at the polls.
Derrick Evans, 36, of Prichard, West Virginia, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of civil disorder.
Jacob Fracker, 30, of Rocky Mount, Virginia, pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia to a felony charge of conspiracy.
At the first trial in a misdemeanor case related to the events of Jan. 6, 2021, Couy Griffin, 48, of Tularosa, New Mexico, was found guilty of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds.
He was acquitted of a second misdemeanor charge of disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds.
The verdicts were returned by Judge Trevor N. McFadden following a trial in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
According to court documents, Fracker and Thomas Robertson, both officers with the Rocky Mount, Virginia Police Department, were off-duty when they headed for Washington, D.C. on the morning of Jan. 6. Both brought along their police identification badges and firearms but left those in their vehicle when they arrived in the Washington metropolitan area. They went to the Washington Monument area, where they attended a rally, and then headed to the Capitol, where a mob was gathering.
According to the documents, both donned gas masks and approached the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol. Fracker entered the Capitol at approximately 2:14 p.m. and took a selfie along with Robertson of themselves making an obscene gesture in front of a statue in the Capitol Crypt.
In his plea, Fracker admitted that by the time he and Robertson entered the Capitol, they had agreed to attempt to impede, stop, or delay the proceedings going on before Congress and that they aided, assisted, encouraged, and facilitated each other in the conduct.
Fracker was arrested on Jan.13, 2021. He faces up to five years in prison and a potential fine of up to $250,000. A sentencing date will be set later in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Robertson, 49, also was arrested on Jan. 13, 2021. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges in the case and is awaiting trial.
In a video that Evans live-streamed to his public Facebook account and later deleted, he was approximately 20 feet away from the Rotunda Doors before they were breached.
He narrated what he saw and heard, making remarks such as “Here we go! Here we go! Open the doors,” and “The door’s cracked We’re goin’ in!”
Once he made it through the doors, Evans exclaimed, “We’re in! Derrick Evans is in the Capitol!” Evans entered the Capitol at approximately 2:40 p.m. He walked through the Rotunda and Statuary Hall and left the building about 10 minutes later.
Evans was arrested on Jan. 8, 2021. He faces up to five years in prison and a potential fine of up to $250,000. He is to be sentenced June 22, 2022, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
More than 775 defendants have been arrested in the 14 months since a mob of deluded Trump supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol and caused about $1.5 million worth of damage to the U.S. Capitol building.
At least 224 of the Trump-loving terrorists have pleaded guilty to a variety of federal charges, with 110 defendants sentenced for their criminal activity on Jan. 6.
More than 50 of them have been sent to prison plus another 35 have been sentenced to a period of home detention.