John George Todd III stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021. A jury of his peers in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia found the Blue Springs man guilty on six counts, including two felonies, and a judge sentenced him to five felonies. years in prison.
But the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday cast doubt on the jury’s verdict and sentencing, ruling 5-4 to narrow the scope of a specific felony charge against Todd and more than 350 others who entered the Capitol and disrupted the certification of the 2020 presidential election.
The charge — obstruction of an official proceeding — was formulated by Congress in response to major accounting scandals in the early 2000s. In an op-ed written by Chief Justice John Robertsthe court ruled that the charge can only be filed if the suspect “has compromised the availability or integrity for use in an official proceeding of data, documents, objects or, as we have previously explained, other matters used in the proceeding, or attempted to do so.”
Roberts said the Justice Department’s current broad interpretation of the law could set a precedent for the administration to bring serious charges against any activist who tries to protest at the Capitol.
“This new interpretation would criminalize a wide range of prosaic behavior, putting activists and lobbyists alike at risk of decades in prison,” Roberts wrote. “As the Solicitor General acknowledged during oral argument, under the government’s interpretation, a peaceful protester could potentially be charged under §1512(c)(2) and face up to 20 years in prison.”
The court’s ruling complicates hundreds of cases involving people connected to the Capitol riot, including a federal indictment against former President Donald Trump brought by special counsel Jack Smith.
Trump has yet to stand trial on the charges — the Supreme Court is currently deciding whether a former president will retain his immunity after leaving office. But most of the nine defendants from Missouri and Kansas charged with obstruction of an official proceeding have pleaded guilty or stood trial.
Four were found guilty of the charges — Todd; Nicholas Kennedy, of Sikeston; Matthew Loganbill, of Versailles; and William Chrestman, of Olathe. Four others have pleaded guilty to lesser charges. Only one, William Pope, of Topeka, has yet to stand trial.
Pope filed a motion to continue his trial from the scheduled date of July 22, but the request was denied. One of his arguments for doing so, he said, was that “there is a strong likelihood that the Supreme Court’s ruling will change the outcome of my case.”
Kennedy is expected to be sentenced on August 28, while Loganbill’s sentencing was postponed until after the Fischer case is heard.
It’s unclear what will happen to Chrestman and Todd, who have already been sentenced after being found guilty of the charges.
Chrestman, who was sentenced to 55 months in prison, is set to be released on December 18. He has been in custody since his arrest in February 2021.
Todd was sentenced to five years in prison on May 31, and his attorneys filed an appeal on June 12.
This is a current story and will be updated.
