Lawyer calls MO man ‘grandpa, not a felon.’ Prosecutors say he ‘dressed for war’ on Jan. 6

The fate of a central Missouri firearms dealer who prosecutors said went to the Capitol “prepared for battle” on Jan. 6, 2021, now rests with a federal judge.

Matthew Loganbill, of Versailles, argued his case this week at a bench trial before Judge Amy Berman Jackson in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. After two days of testimony, Jackson took the case under consideration Thursday and will issue a decision in the coming weeks.

Loganbill was indicted in August on one felony count of obstruction of an official proceeding and four misdemeanors: entering and remaining in a restricted building; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

At his trial, prosecutors said the evidence showed that Loganbill believed President Joe Biden won the 2020 election through fraud and that he wanted to stop Congress’ certification of the Electoral College vote. Photos showed Loganbill inside the Capitol rotunda on Jan. 6, 2021, wearing a helmet and gas mask while carrying an American flag.

“He came dressed for war,” said Brian Brady, a prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice. “He saw a war between the police and rioters that day. And he moved in.”

Loganbill’s attorneys admitted that Loganbill had trespassed — the Capitol was closed to visitors that day because of the COVID-19 pandemic — but said there was no proof that he intended to disrupt the certification of the election and was simply following the crowd and the wishes of former President Donald Trump.

“He’s a grandpa, spouting off on Facebook, frankly mimicking the bellicose language that was being used by the most powerful man in the world,” said Elizabeth Mullin, a federal public defender.

The government’s argument largely hinged on video footage from Jan. 6 that showed Loganbill’s movements through the day and social media posts Loganbill made about the 2020 presidential election.

Loganbill knew he was not permitted in the Capitol but joined the mob anyway, prosecutors said, fortifying the crowd that delayed the certification of the election, forcing lawmakers into a secure location on Capitol grounds for hours.

And they referred to his Facebook posts in which he talked about the taste of tear gas, tearing down scaffolding and breaking through the police lines.

“We were trying every means possible to stop these idiots from stealing the presidency and destroying this nation,” he posted on Jan. 7, 2021.

Videos showed that Loganbill put on and took off his gas mask several times as police fired tear gas into the crowd to try and get it to disperse. At one point, prosecutors showed video of Loganbill entering a hallway that led to the U.S. Senate chamber, coming out to put on his gas mask after police sprayed tear gas, and reentering the space.

Prosecutors said Loganbill was told to leave the building three times, but at one point stood face-to-face with an officer while wearing a helmet and gas mask and refused to go, even after being told someone had been shot in the building.

Mullin, and her co-counsel Alexis Gardner, argued that Loganbill brought the gas mask and helmet for defensive purposes, not offensive, because he was concerned antifa — a term that has been used to describe a broad range of left-wing demonstrators — would be in Washington.

Gardner and Mullin portrayed Loganbill as a peaceful family man, one of nine children who grew up on a rural Missouri farm. He married his high school sweetheart and has four children and 11 grandchildren.

“He’s a grandpa, not a felon,” Gardner said.

In her closing argument Thursday, Mullin said Loganbill sincerely believed the allegations of election fraud and didn’t intend to disrupt Congress. She presented a timeline where Loganbill couldn’t hear Trump’s speech at the Ellipse, so he walked down Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House to the Capitol, where he believed Trump would speak a second time.

She said the presence of porta-potties on the Capitol grounds, which were there for construction workers who were assembling the stage for the upcoming Presidential inauguration, indicated to Loganbill that he was allowed to be on the Capitol grounds.

He didn’t enter the building until 40 minutes after it was first breached and 20 minutes after Congress had been taken to a secure location. Mullin said Loganbill exited the building when he was asked by officers to leave.

“Mr. Loganbill was not preparing for war,” Mullin said, mentioning his age and health condition.

But prosecutors said Loganbill’s Facebook posts and text messages showed someone who closely followed the legal process of certifying the election and knew what he did on Jan. 6 was wrong.

In his closing argument, Brady said Loganbill had paid attention to lawsuits Trump and his allies had filed to overturn the election results, that he had been studying Pennsylvania’s election laws and knew the process of the Electoral College.

Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, was the first senator to announce he would object to the certification of the 2020 presidential election. He said he believed Pennsylvania’s courts improperly allowed mail-in ballots, but a court case making the same argument was dismissed.

“Call Senator Josh Hawley’s office today and let him know you support his intent to be the first Republican senator to challenge the electoral vote on January 6,” Loganbill posted on Facebook.

Loganbill even supported violent efforts to stop the stolen election, prosecutors said, pointing to a Nov. 13, 2020, Facebook post in which he invoked the Holocaust. “Unfortunately with the attitude and posturing of the left, I don’t see any other outcome. God can always change people, but I, and my family will not be modern day ‘jews,’” he wrote.

Mullin said Loganbill was just upset about the election and repeating things he had heard.

“Mr. Loganbill is not an expert in election law,” Mullin said. “He’s following the words of the President of the United States and attorneys like Rudy Giuliani.”

Loganbill is the third Missouri Capitol riot defendant to have a bench trial, in which a judge hears and decides a case without a jury. Lloyd Cruz, of Polo, was found guilty of two misdemeanors and sentenced in May to 45 days’ incarceration followed by one year of supervised release. He also was ordered to pay $500 restitution for damage to the Capitol building.

Isaac Yoder, of Nevada, was found guilty on four misdemeanor counts and sentenced in August to 12 months in prison followed by one year of supervised release. In addition, he was fined $1,000 and ordered to pay $500 restitution.

As of October 6, more than 1,185 people have been charged for their actions on Jan. 6, 2021. The majority of defendants have entered guilty pleas, but 122 people have been found guilty at contested trials.

Loganbill’s case, originally filed in March 2021, has dragged on for more than two-and-a-half years. In August, Jackson granted Loganbill’s motion to dismiss the case, finding that the government violated his right to a speedy trial by taking too long to prosecute him.

The government quickly refiled the case, and after the judge rejected his motions to dismiss most charges, he opted for a bench trial.