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The son of a distinguished conservative activist has been convicted of prices that he stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, bashed in a window, chased a police officer, invaded the Senate ground and helped a mob disrupt the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential election victory.
Leo Brent Bozell IV, 44, of Palmyra, Pennsylvania, was discovered responsible Friday of 10 prices, together with 5 felony offenses, after a trial determined by a federal choose, based on the 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.
U.S. District Choose John Bates heard testimony and not using a jury earlier than convicting Bozell of prices together with obstructing the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress convened to certify the Electoral School vote that Biden received over then-President Donald Trump, a Republican.
Bozell was “a serious contributor to the chaos, the destruction, and the obstruction on the Capitol on January 6, 2021,” prosecutors stated in a pretrial courtroom submitting.
The choose is scheduled to condemn Bozell on Jan. 9.
Bozell’s lawyer, William Shipley Jr., didn’t instantly reply to an e-mail looking for touch upon Saturday.
Prosecutors stated that earlier than the riot, Bozell helped plan and coordinate occasions in Washington in help of Trump’s “Cease the Steal” motion. They stated that after Trump’s rally close to the White Home on Jan. 6, Bozell marched to the Capitol and joined a mob in breaking by means of a police line. He smashed a window subsequent to the Senate Wing Door, creating an entry level for tons of of rioters, based on prosecutors.
After climbing by means of 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 workplace of then-Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. He appeared to have one thing in his hand when he left, prosecutors stated.
Getting into the Senate gallery, Bozell moved a C-SPAN digicam to face the bottom so it couldn’t document rioters ransacking the chamber on a stay video feed. He additionally spent a number of minutes on the Senate ground.
Bozell roamed thorough the Capitol for practically an hour, reaching greater than a dozen totally different elements of the constructing and passing by means of at the very least seven police strains earlier than police escorted him out, prosecutors stated.
In a pretrial courtroom submitting, Bozell’s lawyer denied that Bozell helped overwhelm a police line or engaged in any violence in opposition to police.
“In truth, video proof will present that Mr. Bozell assisted in some small means regulation enforcement officers that he thought may very well be helped by his help,” Shipley wrote.
Shipley additionally argued that Bozell “was – for probably 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 Jan. 6.
Greater than 1,100 individuals have been charged with Capitol riot-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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