A federal judge in Washington, D.C., acquitted a federal defense contractor on Wednesday on all four charges related to entering the U.S. Capitol building during the Jan. 6 riot.
In was the first case in which a Jan. 6 defendant has been fully acquitted at trial. Matthew Martin of Santa Fe, New Mexico, chose a trial before a judge rather than a D.C. jury.
U.S. District Court Judge Trevor N. McFadden, a 2017 Trump appointee, determined it was “not unreasonable” for Martin to assume that Capitol police officers were allowing protesters to enter the Capitol. The government, the judge said, did not show evidence of Martin crossing the police lines that had been broken down by a mob.
Martin was arrested in April 2021 and charged with entering and remaining in a restricted building; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building; violent entry and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.
The judge said the charge of entering and remaining in a restricted building was a “close call.” But he found there was reasonable doubt that Martin knew he was entering a restricted building.
In February, as WND reported, McFadden scolded prosecutors in a separate Jan. 6 case for misleading a grand jury regarding the whereabouts of then Vice President-elect Kamala Harris during the riot, arguing it undermined “any confidence the Court can have in the Government’s representations.” The whereabouts of Harris and then Vice President Mike Pence have been the basis for thousands of criminal charges related to Jan. 6. Prosecutors also have been unable to prove where Pence was after he was evacuated from the Senate chamber at about 2:20 p.m. that day. Contrary to the Justice Department’s indictments, Harris was at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington when the riot began. Mysteriously, it was Harris’ security detail that found one of the two pipe bombs that were widely reported on Jan. 6.
More than 775 arrests have been made in connection with the Jan. 6 riot. Investigative reporter Julie Kelly, who has written extensively on the Jan. 6 defendants for American Greatness, is among many who have pointed out that despite the repeated claims that the event was an “armed insurrection” of “white supremacists,” not one person has been charged with carrying or using a firearm inside the Capitol building. The only person who used a firearm inside the Capitol, she noted, was the Capitol Police officer who shot and killed an unarmed female veteran, Ashley Babbitt.
The FBI said in August it had not found evidence that Jan. 6 was the result of an organized plot to overturn the election, according to four current and former law enforcement officials.
Revolver News has reported evidence that FBI informants and Antifa operatives turned a peaceful rally into a riot, spotlighting the role of Arizona man Ray Epps, who was seen on video directing the people who breached the police lines while President Trump was still delivering a speech one mile away. In a follow-up report, Revolver News presented evidence, backed by videos and images, that there were others who worked in tandem with Epps to orchestrate the break-in.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson has produced a three-part documentary called “Patriot Purge” that concludes the evidence points to “incitement by federal agents” and the “intentional entrapment of American citizens.”
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