KC Proud Boy jailed more than 2 years in Jan. 6 case to stay there after another delay – Yahoo News

Kansas City-area Proud Boy William Chrestman will likely spend at least three more months in jail while awaiting a court hearing in his Capitol riot case.

A federal judge on Monday granted a request by the Justice Department to continue for 90 days a hearing scheduled for Tuesday. The new hearing date is set for Aug. 4 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Chrestman, 49, was charged with five other Proud Boys in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach. But unlike the others, the former sheet metal worker from Olathe is incarcerated, held without bond since his arrest on Feb. 11, 2021.

The Army veteran was captured on numerous videos alongside other Proud Boys during the insurrection, dressed in tactical gear, carrying an ax handle and stirring up the crowd with raucous chants.

In a motion filed Monday, the government said that a continuance was necessary because both sides need additional time to attempt to resolve this matter pretrial and because the Justice Department is continuing to provide global discovery to the defendants.

Given the volume of discovery that has been and is being produced, a continuance will provide the defendants with the opportunity to meaningfully review such discovery and determine how best to proceed, including making decisions regarding the filing of pretrial motions, the government said.

It also said that if plea negotiations fail, the defendants and the government will need reasonable time to prepare for trial.

The government said it had consulted with the attorneys for Chrestman and the others charged with him and they did not oppose the motion.

In granting the request, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly found that the ends of justice served by this continuance outweigh the best interests of the public and Defendants in a speedy trial

Should plea negotiations not be fruitful, he said, the parties and counsel should be prepared to set a trial date at the next status conference.

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Mondays action is the latest in a string of continuances in the case. The last hearing was March 2, 2022. Since then, the hearings have been pushed back eight times.

Chrestmans family and other supporters have long complained that he continues to be held without bond. He is among the Capitol riot defendants incarcerated the longest even though he hasnt been convicted. He and roughly 20 other Jan. 6 inmates in the District of Columbia jail, many of them charged with serious crimes including assaulting police, are referred to as political prisoners by former President Donald Trump and other GOP hard-liners.

Chrestman was indicted by a federal grand jury in February 2021 along with Kansas City-area Proud Boys Christopher Kuehne, of Olathe; Louis Colon, of Blue Springs; and Ryan Ashlock, of Gardner and Arizona siblings Felicia and Cory Konold.

The indictment alleged that they planned with each other, and with others known and unknown, to forcibly enter the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and to stop, delay, and hinder the Congressional proceeding occurring that day.

Chrestman also was charged with threatening to assault a federal law enforcement officer. All except Chrestman were released on personal recognizance bonds pending trial.

Colon pleaded guilty in April 2022 to one count of civil disorder, a felony, and awaits sentencing. Ashlock pleaded guilty to one count of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, a misdemeanor, and was sentenced in November to 70 days in jail and 12 months of supervised release.

The cases of Kuehne and the Konolds are ongoing, and like Chrestman, they were scheduled to be in court Tuesday via video conference. Kuehne no longer lives in Olathe. Last fall, after the judge granted his request to move out of state, he sold his house and relocated to Arizona.

The far-right Proud Boys have been at the forefront of the federal investigation into the attack.

Just this month, jurors found four leaders including former national chairman Henry Enrique Tarrio guilty of seditious conspiracy and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, among other charges. A fifth was found guilty of charges that included assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers and robbery involving government property.

A sixth defendant pleaded guilty on April 8, 2022, to conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers. Another Proud Boys leader pleaded guilty in October to seditious conspiracy and cooperated with the prosecution, testifying as the Justice Departments star witness in the recent trial.

The organization of self-described Western chauvinists known for street-level violence and confrontations with anti-fascists at protests received national attention in September 2020 when, during the first presidential debate, Trump was asked if he was willing to condemn white supremacists and militia groups. Trump responded that the Proud Boys should stand back and stand by.

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KC Proud Boy jailed more than 2 years in Jan. 6 case to stay there after another delay - Yahoo News