3 years after Jan. 6 attack, 2 men serving time, fate of more pending

Dec. 30—Benjamen S. Burlew, accused of assaulting a news photographer during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the nation's Capitol three years ago, had his trial date vacated earlier this month when he failed to appear at a pretrial hearing.

The 43-year-old Miami, Oklahoma, man was scheduled to go to trial Dec. 11 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on eight counts stemming from the attack, including assaulting, resisting or impeding a Washington, D.C., police officer and assaulting and injuring Associated Press photographer John Minchillo.

He allegedly pulled Minchillo down the Capitol steps by a lanyard he was wearing identifying himself as an AP photographer and shoved him over a low wall onto some grass below.

When Burlew failed to appear at a pretrial conference Nov. 30 or a reset date of Dec. 8, Judge Randolph D. Moss ordered the trial date vacated. No new date has been set as yet.

In the meantime, Burlew remains free on his own recognizance.

His attorney had informed the court Nov. 7 of his client's intent to enter a plea agreement and Nov. 30 was designated as a plea hearing date. The purpose of the hearing reverted to a pretrial conference for a Dec. 11 trial when two days before the hearing, the defense notified the court that Burlew no longer wished to take the plea offer.

He is one of about 1,100 defendants who have been charged with crimes that day and one of about 350 accused of assaulting, resisting or impeding police officers or Capitol employees. A Department of Justice update issued in late October of the arrests and prosecution of Jan. 6 participants states that about 110 have been charged with using a dangerous or deadly weapon or causing serious injury to an officer.

Seneca man

Kyler J. Bard, 27, of Seneca, has waived his right to a jury trial on the six counts he is facing from the insurrection. He has a bench trial date of May 20, with a pretrial conference on May 13.

Bard is charged with assaulting and impeding police officers; civil disorder; entering a restricted building; disorderly conduct in a restricted building; engaging in physical violence in a restricted building; and committing violence on Capitol grounds.

According to court documents, a police officer's body cam recorded a man identified as Bard standing on the West Terrace of the Capitol with a megaphone in hand and exhorting the mob around him to push past the line of police officers acting as a barrier before them.

"Move! Move! Move!" he can be heard yelling.

Dressed in a sweatshirt and white cap with the word "Trump" and a "45" logo on it, the man turned moments later and shoved an officer in the line. The officer fought back and Bard fell to the ground, yelling at the officers: "You're all a bunch of pieces of s---!"

He was later purportedly caught on another video talking on a cellphone and telling someone on the line: "We gotta get inside. We gotta take it over. We gotta do it."

Bard also remains free on his own recognizance pending trial.

Anderson man

Chancellor N. Taylor, a 26-year-old resident of Anderson, was not arrested and charged until September of this year in the ongoing investigation. Consequently, he has yet to be indicted but has waived a preliminary hearing on the six counts of a complaint filed in federal court.

The offenses cited in the complaint are assaulting or impeding police; entering a restricted building; impeding the conduct of government business; engaging in physical violence in on restricted grounds; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and physical violence on Capitol grounds.

An FBI special agent's affidavit supporting the complaint states that Taylor was wearing a shirt with the words "Stop the Steal" printed on the back when he and others charged a line of officers holding protective shields to form a barrier guarding the Upper West Terrace of the Capitol.

The document reads: "Taylor ran toward the officers and barreled into the line with his shoulder, hitting one of the officers' shields."

The officer pushed back and Taylor fell to the ground but got back up and resumed his effort to breach the line. Some of the attackers attempted to restrain him as the officers deployed pepper spray. As Taylor was forced back down the steps, he purportedly shouted at police: "I hope you all (expletive) die."

He was released on his own recognizance in late September.

Already sentenced

The Justice Department reported in October that about 160 defendants have pleaded guilty to felonies and another 434 to misdemeanors. About 560 of those convicted have been sentenced, with about 335 receiving periods of incarceration.

Of those pleading guilty to felonies, 68 assaulted law enforcement officers and another 36 obstructed, impeded or interfered with police. Seventy-six of those 104 defendants were sentenced to prison terms of up to 150 months. Four of them pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy.

Isaac S. Yoder, a 34-year-old locksmith from Nevada, Missouri, was found guilty of four misdemeanor counts at a bench trial in March. He was sentenced to concurrent terms of 12 months each for entering a restricted building and disorderly conduct in a restricted building and six months each for violent entry and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building.

Yoder is currently serving his time at the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield with a release date of Sept. 27.

Richard "Bigo" Barnett, of Gravette, Arkansas, has received the lengthiest sentence of those from the Four-State Area.

Barnett, 63, was famously photographed with a foot propped up on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's desk and left her a taunting note with a sexist slur. He was convicted of eight counts in a jury trial a year ago.

A judge sentenced him to 54 months each on convictions for civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding, entering a restricted building with a dangerous weapon and disorderly conduct with a dangerous weapon. He had purchased a stun gun a week previously and brought it with him to the rally.

He received three more concurrent terms of six months each for entering and remaining in the speaker's office, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building and parading or demonstrating in a Capitol building. The judge also assessed him 60 days for taking a piece of Pelosi's mail and ordered that he pay $455 in assessments and another $2,000 in restitution.

Barnett is currently serving his time at the Oklahoma City Federal Transfer Center. His scheduled release date is Jan. 13, 2027.