Man, who ran for Texas House seat in 2022, and wife found guilty on Jan. 6 riot charges

A Texas couple including a man who in 2022 ran a failed campaign for a seat in the Texas House of Representatives have been found guilty of several felony and misdemeanor crimes for their part in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, according to a news release from the Department of Justice.

Mark Middleton, 55, and Jalise Middleton, 54, both of Forestburg, Texas, were found guilty by a federal jury of two counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding officers; civil disorder; and obstruction of an official proceeding., according to the release. All of those charges were felonies.

Federal investigators determined Mark Middleton and Jalise Middleton took part in the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when insurrectionists tried to stop a joint session of Congress working to certify the 2020 presidential election results.

The two were also convicted of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in the Capitol grounds or building, and acts of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or building, all misdemeanors.

Mark Middleton and Jalise Middleton will be sentenced June 12 by U.S. District Judge Randolph D. Moss, in Washington, D.C., according to the DOJ.

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Evidence presented at trial showed that Mark Middleton was among a group of rioters who gathered outside the West Front of the Capitol Building and, around 2:10 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021, began struggling with officers, according to the DOJ. Body-camera video showed Mark Middleton push against barricades and a police line with his body. He was heard in the footage yelling at others to get back and shouting expletives as he pushed against the barricades. At one point, the DOJ says, the video shows him grab a police officer’s left wrist and pull that officer toward the crowd.

Authorities said that at the same time Jalise Middleton was seen on bodycam footage repeatedly grabbing and striking with her hand over the barricade at the same officer. When another officer came to help, Jalise Middleton hit that officer as well. The video shows Jalise Middleton and Mark Middleton continue to grapple with and strike the officers and try to pull them into the crowd as flags were thrust toward the officers’ faces.

The two were forced to retreat from the barricades when Washington, D.C., police deployed chemical spray, according to the DOJ. Later on, both would post social media messages bragging about their role in helping to breach the barricades, saying they fought with police and only stopped when the chemical spray was deployed.

Mark Middleton and Jalise Middleton were arrested on April 21, 2021, in Forestburg, Texas, in Montague County about an hour north of Fort Worth, according to the DOJ.

Mark Middleton’s political aspirations

Mark Middleton ran for the District 68 Texas House seat as a Republican in 2022. He ran against three opponents in the Republican primary and garnered the second most votes at 13.47%, according to state election records. The incumbent, David Spiller, ended up getting the party’s nomination with support from 69.81% of voters and was unopposed in the general election.

The primary election saw 30,881 votes cast.

According to the website for Take Texas Back, a political organization that describes itself as a movement to support Republican hopefuls the organization believes will put Texas interests ahead of national ones, Mark Middleton signed a pledge on Jan. 20, 2022, to “place the interests of Texas and Texans before any other nation, state, political party, organization or individual.”

The pledge also says that the signer will support Article 1 Section 2 of the Texas Constitution, which says that Texans “have at all times the inalienable right to alter, reform or abolish their government in such manner as they may think expedient.”

According to the website, Mark Middleton has a master’s degree in theology and two business degrees. He and Jalise Middleton have three children and three grandchildren and, at the time the information was posted online, lived on a small farm in Cooke County.

Since the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, around 1,315 people have been charged across the country for crimes related to the breach of the Capitol Building. Around 470 have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.

The investigations remain ongoing and the FBI is asking anybody with tips or information to call 800-225-5324 or go to tips.fbi.gov.

This story contains information from the Star-Telegram’s archives.