Distinguished activist’s son convicted of storming Capitol and invading Senate ground in Jan. 6 riot
The son of a outstanding conservative activist has been convicted of costs that he stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, bashed in a window, chased a police officer, invaded the Senate ground and helped a mob disrupt the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential election victory.
Leo Brent Bozell IV, 44, of Palmyra, Pennsylvania, was discovered responsible Friday of 10 costs, together with 5 felony offenses, after a trial determined by a federal choose, in keeping with the Justice Division.
Bozell’s father is Brent Bozell III, who based the Media Analysis Heart, Dad and mom Tv Council and different conservative media organizations.
U.S. District Decide John Bates heard testimony and not using a jury earlier than convicting Bozell of costs together with obstructing the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress convened to certify the Electoral Faculty vote that Biden gained over then-President Donald Trump, a Republican.
Bozell was “a significant contributor to the chaos, the destruction, and the obstruction on the Capitol on January 6, 2021,” prosecutors stated in a pretrial court docket submitting.
The choose is scheduled to condemn Bozell on Jan. 9.
Bozell’s lawyer, William Shipley Jr., didn’t instantly reply to an electronic mail in search of touch upon Saturday.
Prosecutors stated that earlier than the riot, Bozell helped plan and coordinate occasions in Washington in assist of Trump’s “Cease the Steal” motion. They stated that after Trump’s rally close to the White Home on Jan. 6, Bozell marched to the Capitol and joined a mob in breaking via a police line. He smashed a window subsequent to the Senate Wing Door, creating an entry level for lots of of rioters, in keeping with prosecutors.
After climbing via the smashed window, Bozell joined different rioters in chasing a Capitol Police officer, Eugene Goodman, up a staircase to an space the place different officers confronted the group.
Later, Bozell was captured on video coming into workplace of then-Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. He appeared to have one thing in his hand when he left, prosecutors stated.
Coming into the Senate gallery, Bozell moved a C-SPAN digital camera to face the bottom so it couldn’t report rioters ransacking the chamber on a dwell video feed. He additionally spent a number of minutes on the Senate ground.
Bozell roamed thorough the Capitol for practically an hour, reaching greater than a dozen completely different components of the constructing and passing via at the very least seven police strains earlier than police escorted him out, prosecutors stated.
In a pretrial court docket submitting, Bozell’s lawyer denied that Bozell helped overwhelm a police line or engaged in any violence in opposition to police.
“Actually, video proof will present that Mr. Bozell assisted in some small means legislation enforcement officers that he thought might be helped by his help,” Shipley wrote.
Shipley additionally argued that Bozell “was – for essentially the most half – merely misplaced and wandering from place-to-place observing occasions as they transpired.”
Bozell was arrested in February 2021. An FBI tipster who recognized Bozell acknowledged him partly from the “Hershey Christian Academy” sweatshirt that he wore on Jan. 6.
Greater than 1,100 folks have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Greater than 650 of them have pleaded responsible. Roughly 140 others have been convicted by judges or juries after trials in Washington.
