A Bentonville man pleaded guilty Tuesday for his role in the Capitol riot that sought to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Nathan Earl Hughes, 34, pleaded guilty to three charges: civil disorder and aiding and abetting; assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers; and impeding passage through the Capitol grounds or buildings.
Hughes remains free pending sentencing, set for Nov. 15 before Judge Carl J. Nichols in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
Hughes, who wasn’t arrested until August 2023, had been scheduled for trial starting Tuesday but changed his plea instead.
A statement of offense filed in court by Hughes’ attorney, William Shipley Jr., acknowledges that while inside a Capitol grounds tunnel on Jan. 6, 2021, Hughes “joined the crowd in synchronized pushing against the police line.”
Hughes next “forcibly grabbed a shield held by” a Capitol police officer but was pushed out of the tunnel a minute later.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported last month that three of Hughes’ four co-defendants were sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to interfering with police officers during a civil disorder. Their prison sentences ranged from six to 18 months in prison, the newspaper reported.
A fourth defendant, actor Jay Johnston, is to be sentenced in October, court records indicate.
The Jan. 6 riots followed then-President Donald Trump‘s speech and rally near the Capitol and were in protest of Joe Biden’s victory over Trump in the November 2020 presidential election.