A federal judge today set Bentonville resident Nathan Earl Hughes‘ trial in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots to begin with jury selection on July 15.
Hughes wasn’t arrested until August and is free on his own recognizance. He is charged with two felonies — assaulting a law enforcement officer and obstructing, impeding or interfering with a law enforcement officer during commission of a civil disorder. He is also charged with three misdemeanor offenses: entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; and impeding passage through the Capitol grounds or buildings.
The trial, before U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols, will be in Washington, D.C.
According to an FBI special agent’s statement of facts, Hughes grabbed at officers’ riot shields and tried to take them away inside a Capitol tunnel. At one point, the statement says, Hughes used his elbow to strike in the direction of an officer holding a shield. After Hughes was eventually pushed out of the tunnel, the special agent reported, Hughes was heard shouting to others in the mob, “Pull them out!” Hughes had earlier in the day seen officers being pulled from the tunnel into the crowd, the statement says.