Salisbury, Maryland, Capitol riot defendant has court date moved again
March 21 is the second date Carlos Ayala was scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing related to charges, including “Disorderly Conduct in a Capitol Building,” according to court documents. Those same documents show the hearing has been moved for a second time.
Ayala, of Salisbury, was arrested in January for conduct related to the Jan. 6, 2021 breach of the United States Capitol, including “obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder.” Around the time of his arrest, he agreed to conditions for release on Jan. 9, 2024.
A March 7 court document shows that earlier this month, Ayala was granted authorization to “travel to Spain for the period from March 10, 2024, to March 16, 2024.” His travel was conditioned, in part, upon a $25,000 bond secured by title to a vehicle, a 2019 Tesla Model X, owned by Ayala, documents said.
The request for international travel, opposed by a U.S. attorney but granted by a U.S. magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, was for what Ayala called a “celebration of life” event in Madrid. The judge who granted authorization for international travel required that the Pretrial Services Agency file a notice with the court regarding Ayala’s compliance with conditions within 24 hours of the return of his passport. As of March 19, no such notice was publicly posted on the court’s electronic filing system.
A March 19 court document did indicate that the hearing scheduled for March 21 has been moved to April 25, 2024, at 1 p.m. “The Court finds that the parties are working in good faith towards a potential resolution,” the document said.
More: January 6 United States Capitol attack defendant resigns from posts, to get day in court
No preliminary hearing yet for United States of America v. Carlos Ayala
Ayala, a retired Perdue executive, has not yet had the preliminary hearing in the case, United States of America v. Carlos Ayala.
Until his resignations in January, he was a member of both the Maryland State Board of Elections and the Wicomico County Administrative Charging Committee, a five-member body designed to make determinations on whether a police officer should be charged and appear before a trial board after allegations of misconduct.
A press release this week from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, similar in form to the one that announced Ayala’s arrest in January and the charges against him, announced the imprisonment of an Ohio man for assaulting law enforcement on Jan. 6, 2021.
The March 18 release lacked the final line included on the release in January about Ayala’s case: “all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.” The release on the website of the U.S. Department of Justice also showed the extent of those charged in connection with the Capitol breach as well as the number of those charged in connection with the impeding and assaulting of law enforcement on that day of the scheduled ceremony for the counting of Electoral College votes and certifying the results of the election.
“In the 38 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,358 individuals have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 486 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, a felony,” the press release said. “The investigation remains ongoing.”
More: U.S. Capitol riot defendant from Salisbury has court date moved. All to know.
Dwight A. Weingarten is an investigative reporter, covering the Maryland State House and state issues. He can be reached at dweingarten@gannett.com or on Twitter at @DwightWeingart2.
This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: Defendant in Jan. 6 case from Salisbury, Maryland has court date moved
