Feds deny arresting California riot suspect over Trump support

Federal prosecutors are pushing back on claims they charged a California man with sedition on Jan. 6 because of his political beliefs. Sean Michael McHugh Faced with prosecution because he attacked police with bear spray and a large metal sign.

In a filing in federal court in Washington, D.C., prosecutors are asking a judge to dismiss the Auburn construction worker. Request for discovery And an evidentiary hearing on why he was charged and now faces a trial starting on April 17.

“For his part, the defendant entered the restricted west side of the United States Capitol, where he repeatedly antagonized a line of law enforcement officers, used a megaphone to encourage the crowd, and openly deployed dangerous weapons while attacking, resisting, or obstructing. officer,” prosecutors wrote in their filing.

They note that McHugh Police sprayed with bear spray which contained a label warning of “irreversible eye damage if sprayed into the eyes” and that he “directed and assisted the rioters in striking the officers with a large metal sign.”

“The defendant also shouted directly at the officers: ‘You like protecting pedophiles?’; ‘You are protecting the Communists!’; ‘I’ll be shaking in your little — boots’; ‘We’ve got the Second Amendment behind us, so what do you do?’; ‘You’re not holding the line!’

The latest filing was made by McHugh’s attorney before U.S. District Judge John D. It comes in response to a motion asking Bates to order the Justice Department to produce documents that could show he faces charges for being a supporter of former President Donald Trump.

McHugh’s argument rests on the assumption that left-leaning protesters in Portland and elsewhere have not faced similar charges. What McHugh is up against.

Attorney Joseph Allen also argued that the so-called Dr Twitter file There was a “shocking revelation” recently released that the government has used Twitter to limit citizens’ First Amendment rights.

McHugh, the only Sacramento-area defendant in the Jan. 6 prosecution who remains in custody, has sought several other orders, including the dismissal of the charges, his release from jail pending trial and the transfer of the trial to Sacramento.

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The judge has yet to rule on those motions, and he reiterated his position at a hearing Friday morning that McHugh’s trial will begin April 17.

McHugh has before Rejection of a plea agreement As proposed by prosecutors, who say they expect their upcoming trial to last part of the week.

And in their latest filing prosecutors said McHugh presented no evidence that he was singled out.

“In a motion filled with conjecture and innuendo, the defendant alleges that the government selectively targeted him for prosecution based on his political beliefs,” they wrote, noting that McHugh was charged with the actions.

“The alleged conduct — the defendant’s violent attack on law enforcement officers in a mob effort to surround the U.S. Capitol building and disrupt the certification of presidential elections — further illustrates the lack of evidence demonstrating discriminatory impact,” they wrote.

“Defendant has not identified another person in his comparable protest group who committed similarly violent attacks targeting government gear and personnel, but who faced no prosecution.”

McHugh is the only one of the four Jan. 6 defendants in Sacramento to proceed to trial. Two of them – Valerie Elaine Ehrke Arbuckle and Tommy Frederick Allan of Rocklin — accepted a plea deal and was sentenced.

A fourth, GOP operative George Aaron Riley of Sacramento, is expected to agree to a plea deal at a hearing scheduled for March 7. His attorney, Tim Zindel, previously told The Bee Hopefully Riley will be found guilty Single count of obstructing official proceedings.