Filing describes Capitol riot evidence

Jul. 1—A recent federal court filing for the first time describes for those who were not in the courtroom the evidence behind a Thomasville woman's conviction on charges stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, riot and storming of the U.S. Capitol.

The 46-page document rebuts all of the arguments by Laura Lee Steele, 54, and other members of the Oath Keepers militia group who were convicted along with her March 20 and, like her, are seeking to have the convictions reversed.

It was the third trial involving members of the Oath Keepers, but unlike the first two it garnered little media coverage because it occurred at the same time that several high-ranking members of the far-right Proud Boys were on trial on charges that included seditious conspiracy.

And while some of the evidence described in the new filing was mentioned in Steele's indictment filings, many of the details were not.

Steele's attorney has argued that there was insufficient evidence at trial to support Steele's convictions. Prosecutors strongly dispute that in their recent filing, laying out the chronology from after the 2020 election through late January.

"Laura Steele shared her co-conspirators' outrage at the outcome of the presidential

election," prosecutors wrote.

They cited several Facebook posts in November and December 2020, including "No, Joe won't make to office," and "Biden will never be the POTUS," and one that used the phrase "A storm is coming," which is used often by followers of the QAnon conspiracy website.

"Significantly, Steele also evidenced an understanding of the presidential certification process ... for it is this precise process that she obstructed on January 6, 2021," they wrote.

Showing her involvement in Oath Keepers' communications before Jan. 6, prosecutors said Steele emailed one of the group's Florida leaders with her membership application so she could be "verified for the events this coming Tuesday and Wednesday," which was Jan. 5 and 6. She also was a member of an Oath Keepers group chat and messaged the group on the evening of Jan. 5.

On Jan. 6, when the Oath Keepers were gathered at the Ellipse near the Capitol, after founder Stewart Rhodes posted to a leadership chat group, "All I see Trump doing is complaining. I see no intent by him to do anything. So the patriots are taking it into their own hands. They've had enough," a group that included Steele started moving toward the Capitol. When they got there, Rhodes messaged a leader of Steele's group, which prosecutors call Line One, to go to the south side of the Capitol.

"The testimony at trial established that while Line One was traveling to the Capitol, the group huddled multiple times as a group," prosecutors wrote. "In one huddle near the central steps on the east side of the Capitol, (leader) Kelly Meggs told the members of Line One that they were 'going to try and stop the vote count.' "

The group then moved up the stairs to the Capitol and forced their way into the Rotunda, then split into two smaller groups. The group Steele was with went toward the Senate chamber, where they "pushed forward against the outnumbered officers guarding the Senate chamber," prosecutors wrote. "The rioters in the Senate Hallway were eventually repelled by law enforcement using pepper spray."

After leaving the Capitol, Steele and the others gathered on the East Plaza of the Capitol around Rhodes.

In the days that followed, Rhodes' sent members of the Oath Keepers instructions to "DELETE ANY OF YOUR COMMENTS REGARDING WHO DID WHAT."

"Soon after January 6, Steele began messaging others about the need to avoid law enforcement, at times echoing Rhodes's warnings that law enforcement could read messages and use evidence 'against' them," prosecutors wrote.

Steele wrote to someone on Jan. 13 that she had deleted her Facebook posts and planned to get off Messenger "sometime soon," and she messaged someone else,

"Be chill. They are watching for this."

An FBI agent testified at the trial that in a search of Steele's house investigators found the black shoes and khaki pants Steele wore at the Capitol but not her floppy hat or Oath Keepers shirt. He also testified that they found charred remains of certain items in a burn pit behind Steele's house.

"Steele knew that by destroying evidence of her involvement in the attack on the Capitol, she was removing the possibility that law enforcement would find such material, because she was destroying it," prosecutors wrote. "In a hierarchical organization like the Oath Keepers, it is a wholly reasonable inference that Rhodes' order to his top leadership ... to delete messages because of the prospect of indictments would then be disseminated down to other members of the conspiracy, including Steele."

The prosecutors' filing also addresses a separate request by Steele's attorney for a new trial, which argued that one of the jurors at the trial later made statements to a reporter that showed she put the burden on the defendants to prove they were innocent rather than requiring prosecutors to prove guilt.

Prosecutors argued that the juror's words clearly showed the exact opposite.

"First, the juror's statements reflect an accurate understanding of the Court's clear instructions," they wrote. "... The juror's statements reflect someone who waited until the end of the trial to consider her verdict, and that is what the

Court instructed her to do."

A hearing in the case is scheduled for Aug. 29. Steele is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 31, but she has requested that it be postponed so she can go on a family vacation.