Monday, May 13

Mother, son who took zip ties into Senate convicted in 1/6 riot

WASHINGTON — A Tennessee man and his mom had been convicted on Tuesday of costs that they stormed the Capitol, the place they introduced plastic zip-tie handcuffs into the Senate gallery as a mob attacked the constructing, court docket information present.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth convicted Eric Munchel and his mom, Lisa Eisenhart, on all 10 counts of their indictment, together with a cost that they conspired to impede Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory on Jan. 6, 2021. The decide is scheduled to condemn each of them Sept. 8.

Lamberth determined the case with out a jury after a “stipulated bench trial,” an uncommon authorized continuing by which defendants don’t admit guilt to costs however agree with prosecutors that sure info are true. At least three dozen Capitol riot defendants have resolved their circumstances that manner – which permits defendants to protect their proper to an attraction – somewhat than choosing a standard trial or pleading responsible.

A jury trial for the pair had been scheduled to begin final week. Emails in search of remark had been despatched to their legal professionals on Tuesday.

Munchel, 32, of Nashville, Tennessee, labored at a restaurant. Eisenhart, 59, of Woodstock, Georgia, has labored as a touring nurse.

On Jan. 6, they attended then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally earlier than becoming a member of the gang that marched to the Capitol. Both of them had been sporting tactical vests. Munchel had a stun gun holstered to his proper hip.

After grabbing plastic handcuffs that they discovered contained in the Capitol, Munchel and Eisenhart entered the gallery above the Senate chamber and stepped over a railing that separated parts of the gallery. Eisenhart chanted, “Treason! Treason!”

Munchel “gleefully” entered the Capitol throughout a riot whereas carrying a harmful weapon, the stun gun, the decide stated in a February 2021 ruling.

“By word and deed, Munchel has supported the violent overthrow of the United States government. He poses a clear danger to our republic,” Lamberth wrote.

In the riot’s aftermath, Eisenhart instructed a London newspaper that she would “rather die as a 57-year-old woman than live under oppression.”

“I’d rather die and would rather fight,” she added, in keeping with the decide’s ruling.

Eisenhart additionally claimed that she took the plastic handcuffs to maintain them away from “bad actors,” the decide famous.

More than 1,000 folks have been charged with federal crimes associated to the lethal Jan. 6 riot. Over 600 of them have pleaded responsible or been convicted after trials determined by a jury or a decide. Over 450 of them have been sentenced, with greater than half getting phrases of imprisonment starting from seven days to 10 years.

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